The Gran Pulse Sage
by James Young
Summary: Nagato doesn't revive the people he killed, instead he gives Naruto the Rinnegan and transports Naruto and Konan to Cocoon in the Vestige just as Serah turns to Crystal. Why is it that Naruto always ends up in the worst situations? Spoilers Within. Being rewritten.
1. The Prologue

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, this is a challenge given to me by N.A.B. 0206

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

The Prologue

* * *

Complete and utter destruction was all that was left of Konoha, Naruto knew that, but it didn't stop him from confronting Pein, or as he was really called, Nagato. Konan was also there, but it didn't stop them from having their chat, in fact, Nagato had encouraged Naruto to talk to him. At the moment, Nagato had his eyes closed, almost looking like that he was thinking about something.

"You and I are sibling disciples. As students of the same master, we ought to understand one another. That is what I said to earlier." Nagato repeated what he had told Naruto earlier one. "I meant it as a joke." Konan turned to her best friend, looking worried about him, though the redhead seemed to like being silent for the moment. "You are a curious fellow. You remind me of how I once was." Nagato continued.

"Nagato ..." Konan uttered softly, wondering if this child had possibly broken through to her best friend.

"I wasn't able to believe in Jiraiya. Nor ... could I believe myself." Nagato continued. "However ... I have a feeling that unlike me, you will be able to walk towards a different future, but not a future, as disastrous as this one, a place where you will most likely be able to survive and make friends better than this one." Nagato continued.

"What?" Naruto asked, his eyes widening in surprise, wondering just what his fellow student of Jiraiya was talking about.

"Also, I will be sending Konan with you, to help you fit in with the way people live in the plane that I am sending you." Nagato told them both, making their eyes widen in surprise.

"N-Nagato! A-are you serious? I'm needed here, to look after you!" Konan interrupted suddenly, sounding really unsure with the idea of both she and Naruto going to this place together.

"This is my last wish Konan." Nagato gave her a small smile, making her realize just how serious that her best friend was about doing this. "Even if you don't like the idea now, I just don't feel comfortable about sending Naruto on his own, nor do I like the idea of leaving you here on your own to have HIM after your head for our betrayal." Nagato answered Konan's unspoken question, making the woman give her best friend a look of understanding.

"I see," Konan uttered. "I understand Nagato, do what you need to do."

"W-wait a minute! What's going on!" Naruto demanded, before suddenly Nagato started to do some hand seals, making the boy look on in worry, wondering just what technique that the older and more experienced Shinobi was going to do. Konan suddenly placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder, making him freeze, while wondering just what was going on, even more curious than before.

"I think that I will believe in you, Naruto Uzumaki. Therefore, I will be sending you and Konan to another world, which can be saved, unlike this one." Nagato told the teenager, before Naruto found that he couldn't move, not a muscle in his body could move, only his muscles that could allow him to talk, no matter how much he willed for it to happen, he spotted Konan not moving as well, and figured that it was the same for her as well.

"W-what's Pein doing?" Naruto asked the origami master nervously, though she moved her eyes, she didn't do much more.

"Those who possess the Rinnegan are able to manipulate the jutsus of all six Peins, and are said to exist outside the realm of life, death, space and time. Nagato's ocular power is the jutsu that allows Nagato to open a portal that will eventually send us both to another dimension at the cost of his own life. He is the seventh Pein." Konan explained to her new companion, though it wasn't by choice, Naruto gasped at what he had been told.

"Outer Path: Dimensional Travel." Nagato chanted, causing an open portal of what appeared to be of space opening up beneath them. "I have one last thing for you, Naruto Uzumaki. I shall give you what has been in my blood as long as I have known, I shall unlock the power of the Rinnegan within you." Nagato announced to the blond boy, causing both he and Konan to gasp in shock, clearly not expecting it. "Outer Path: Rinnegan Transfer!" Nagato shouted, causing his hair to pale from a blood red to a ghostly white, and his eyes to lose their colour. "I wish you good luck, and hope that you succeed there, where you could not succeed her." Nagato gave a small smile. "Thank you, Naruto Uzumaki, for opening my eyes to the world again."

"Nagato." Konan uttered softly, wondering if his body would be safe without her.

"Konan, thank you for being by my side throughout the whole time, you were my best friend, and like a sister to me. I could not have wished for anything more, so I hope you are safe in your journeys, Konan." Nagato gave his thanks to his best friend. Konan's eyes filled with tears that broke loose.

"NAGATO!" Konan screamed as she and Naruto finally started to slide into the portal. Naruto looked at the Rinnegan user one last time.

"I promise you this, Nagato." Naruto started. "You fate in me will not proven wrong, I promise you Nagato, that I will save this world!" Naruto announced as he and Konan finally fully sunk into the portal, which closed after them. Nagato gasped as they finally left them, he coughed, but still he smiled. Nagato died with a smile. He managed to gasp out two words before he finally lost his fight with death.

"I glad."

* * *

Naruto and Konan appeared together in a temple, the first thing that they knew was that they were high up and that they weren't standing on anything ... wait, what? Naruto poked his foot down experimentally before looking down, he gulped nervously. Before both he and Konan started to fall at an extremely quick pace.

"NAGATO YOU BASTARD!"

"Nagato is not a bastard!"

* * *

"Serah!" A girl with pink hair cried as she spotted another girl on the floor, it was Lightning and she had seen her sister on the floor motionless for now. Lightning scooped up her sister in her arms and turned to her companion, Sazh. "Time to go. We have to leave before the army..." Lightning paused as she looked at Sazh. "What?"

"That's a Pulse brand." Sazh pointed out. "That girl's a L'Cie."

"I already told you that." Lightning told him.

"Pulse l'Cie are the enemies of Cocoon." Sazh told Lightning, reaching down for his gun, causing a pained expression to flash across Lightning's face.

"So they should die?" Lightning demanded an answer.

"Listen, if she fails her Focus, you know how that'll end." Sazh reminded the ex-soldier.

"And killing her is a mercy?" Lightning sneered, before a hand came up and tried to grasp at the older woman.

"You came." Serah uttered, making Lightning gasp at seeing her sister awake, before she went down on her knees and carefully placed her on the ground.

"Serah!" A male voice called out suddenly and then a platform came down with a young boy, a young girl and a man, who had called the woman's name, Snow. He jumped down before the platform could finish its descent and ran to Serah before taking her left hand in both of his. "Serah."

"Is that ... my hero?" Serah asked softly, allowing a smile to grace her beautiful face, making Snow give a small smile in encouragement, while the two young children tried to sneak a look. The boy was called Hope, while the girl was called Vanille. Vanille held her hands to her mouth in horror of what was about to happen, something that she somehow knew.

"Let's get you out of here." Snow told her gently.

"Hands off, I'm taking her home." Lightning cut Snow off as soon as he had said that.

"Sis, I ..." Snow tried to speak to Lightning

"I'm not your sister! You couldn't protect her, it's your fault that she..." Lightning snapped at Snow, cutting him off as soon as he had said that word 'sis'.

"You can save us." Serah uttered softly.

"Serah?" Lightning asked, not sure if she had heard right.

"You can save us." Serah repeated herself, making Lightning look at her with a strange look. "Protect us all." Serah requested softly. "Save ... Cocoon."

"Save cocoon?" Lightning asked as Serah as being allowed to lay on her back now. "Serah? That was your focus?"

"Anything, I'll do anything. Leave it to me, you'll see. I'll protect Cocoon. I'll save everyone!" Snow started telling his fiancée what he would do, just to help her.

"Somehow, I'll make things right." Lightning told her younger sister, trying to reassure her.

"You just relax." Snow told Serah, giving off a grin.

"Thank you." Serah uttered as she closed her eyes, suddenly her mark of the l'Cie started to glow in a bright blue light, just as she started to float in the air. The others were gasping at what they were seeing, while Snow could only release his hold of his fiancée's hand and watch in horrifying awe, while Lightning was looking more horrified than awed. Serah's arms folded so her hands could almost be in a praying position, when she was suddenly turned to crystal, a burst of light slowly made its way to Snow's gloved hand, revealing to be a blue crystal, making him gasp before he looked up to his crystallized fiancée, as she started to float down towards them.

"Serah! Serah!" Snow started jumping, trying to grab her fragile form, while Lightning could only watch on in horror, as did Vanille.

"Why is she turning to crystal?" Vanille asked softly, wondering what was going on.

"L'Cie who fulfils their Focus are transformed into crystal and gain eternal life." Hope explained.

"Just life the stories say." Sazh added to the explanation, as the crystallized girl was now at Snow's head height.

"Serah ... sweet dreams." Snow told her, loud enough for Lightning to hear.

"Sweet dreams?" Lightning demanded as she shoved Sazh out of the way. "She's not sleeping!" Lightning snapped at Snow grabbing his collar angrily, clearly distressed by what had just happened. "Serah's ... she ..." Lightning let go of the tall man angrily, looking very distressed by what had happened.

"She's alive!" Snow told Lightning what he thought about Serah's condition.

"No."

"The legend! Remember the legend!" Snow told her, trying to get his future sister-in-law to change her mind. "L'Cie who fulfil their focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life. It's the same with Serah! Eternal life! She's not dead!" Sazh looked away, not sure what to believe, the children were the same as well. "Serah's my bride-to-be. I promised to be hers forever! I don't care how many years I have to wait..." Snow was cut off suddenly when Lightning suddenly lost her temper due to his words, and punched him in the face angrily.

"It's over! Open your eyes and face reality!" Lightning told Snow angrily, while Snow just laid on the floor.

"Serah..." Vanille uttered the other girl's name. '_Does becoming an L'Cie really mean losing everything?'_ Vanille thought the rest of the question to herself. Suddenly the whole building shook much to the group's surprise. "What now?" Vanille asked sounding really worried.

"The army!" Sazh remembered suddenly, reminding the group just what was outside of the temple that they were in.

* * *

"The target time is almost in place. Surface time, what is your status?" A radio broadcast was transmitted across as several flying machines surrounded the place that the group and unknowingly Naruto and Konan were all in.

"Good to go. Resistance is under control. The assault proceeds as planned." The reply was sent.

"Leave no trace. The Pulse Vestige never existed." The reply was sent, as green lights glowed all over the 'Pulse Vestige', before the soldiers allowed giant headlights to shine on the structure as well.

"Fire!" The lead soldier ordered suddenly, causing several machines to fire red poles at the Vestige, penetrating the impressive thing, two at a time, aiming to tear the thing apart with what they had.

* * *

Inside of the Vestige, Lightning and Snow covered Serah's crystallized body with their own, while Hope, Vanille and Sazh looked around anxiously since the place was shaking wildly.

"What's happening?" Vanille quickly asked.

"Must be a Sanctum strike. Bring down the Vestige and the L'Cie with it!" Sazh answered while Vanille seemed to be seeking him for comfort.

"Aren't they taking it back to Pulse? That's what the Purge was, right?" Vanille asked, sounding more nervous than before.

"All they care about is getting everything from Pulse off of Cocoon. Dead or alive, it's all the same." Sazh answered the young girl's question.

"We can't stay here! They'll kill us!" Hope cried suddenly desperate just to get out of there, he sounded like that he was about to cry as well, before he was so scared. Suddenly, the shaking stopped, much to everyone's surprise, suddenly the door ahead of them glowed red on its L'Cie mark, before it opened.

"I'll be right back, hold on." Snow told the crystallized Serah, before he started making his way towards the door.

"Trench Coat. Where you going?" Sazh asked the blond haired man, who turned to Sazh.

"Date with the fal'Cie. Got some things to talk about." Snow answered, before continuing his way towards the door.

"What? You're gonna ask IT to help her? Are you out of your mind, kid?" Sazh demanded. "That thing wants to chew us up and spit us out!"

"Well what do you want me to do?" Snow snapped at Sazh in response, leaving him speechless for a moment. Lightning suddenly started making her way up the stairs towards the door as well. "Lightning?" Snow asked, before he started to follow her as well. Sazh simply sighed at what he was seeing.

"Here we go." Sazh sighed, before he started to follow them as well. Vanille looked back at Hope who still looked hopelessly scared.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Suddenly a screaming male voice could be heard, making everyone pause, before looking up where the sound was coming from. They could see that a blond haired kid was flying down towards them, making their eyes widened, but none more sure than Lightning. "LOOK OUT!" The blond collided with Lightning suddenly, causing a huge load of dust to kick up as a crater was created under where Lightning had been standing.

"Lightning!" Snow and Sazh shouted as they tried to see if she was okay, only to face vault at what they were seeing when the smoke faded. Lightning groaned slightly, feeling a weight on top of her, before she opened her eyes, which widened incredibly in shock at the site they greeted her. Naruto opened his eyes as well, and his eyes were wide in shock as well. Lightning and Naruto, had somehow ended up kissing each other, at the result of their fall. Lightning started to twitch, twitch in anger, making Naruto go extremely pale, as he pulled away from the girl quickly and started trying to make some excuses.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I was falling! I didn't know you were there! I warned you when I did see you!" Naruto tried to explained, but it didn't help him.

"YOU BASTARD!" Lightning roared suddenly, before she punched him as hard as she could, sending him flying slamming into a few zombies up the stairs, killing them when the poor teenager hit them with direct contact. Snow and Sazh looked at Lightning, shivering slightly, before they looked at each other.

"Let's agree to never royally piss her off that badly." Sazh whispered nervously.

"Agreed, I never knew she could do that." Snow agreed, looking like he might shit himself if she ever got that angry at him.

"I just know that that's for calling Nagato a bastard, it's got to be." A woman's voice giggled, making Snow and Sazh look up, only for Sazh jaw to drop in awe. There was at least in his eyes, a heavenly woman floating in the air, with paper wings coming from her back, though she had no legs at the moment. Suddenly, her paper wings started to disappear and make her legs, as she started to fall before she hit the ground with both feet hitting the ground, Konan had finally arrived. "Naruto Uzumaki, I thought you had more manners." Konan told the blond.

"Shut up, Konan." Naruto barely got out, before he started to sit up and slowly got to his feet. As soon as he had done that, he shook his head and blinked as he looked at the surroundings, wondering just what kind of shithole he had ended up in this time. "So, what's going on?"

"I would like to know as well." Konan agreed with Naruto's question.

* * *

Alright! I've made it, a Final Fantasy XIII and Naruto crossover! Wow, that feels weird to say that.

This is a challenge that I got given to me by N.A.B. 0206, first a Kingdom Hearts and Naruto crossover, now this. He's giving me plenty of things to do isn't he?

Anyway, this is the longest Prologue that I've done yet, and I hope that you like it.

The pairings as going to be Lightning x Naruto. Yes, it's been done before, but never like this! My first try at something like trying to create a relationship that take a while to make to be honest with you, and I just love the challenge of trying it. Also, I most likely will do a Konan x Sazh, I hope that people will be okay with me doing that.

Also, you're probably thinking that Naruto getting the Rinnegan has already been done before, but recently they've said that Nagato's red hair was due to the Uzumaki bloodline, so I'm saying that's the closest that you're going to get to Naruto actually having a true bloodline.

Now, here's a poll for you to think about. Who should Naruto travel with when the group splits up?

Lightning and Hope or Sazh and Vanile.

The same question with Konan, one person must go with someone, the other person must go with the other group.

Either way, I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter and that you look forward to more chapters in the future, cause I know I look forward to writing them.

Until next time, good bye.


	2. The Marking of the l'Cie

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, this is a challenge given to me by N.A.B. 0206

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

The Marking of the L'Cie

* * *

The Ages of the Group

Sazh - 40

Konan - 35

Lightning and Snow - 21

Vanille - 19

Naruto - 16

Hope - 14

* * *

Naruto and Konan stared at the unusual group of people, while Lightning glared at Naruto, Sazh was still blinking at the site of Konan after her entrance, Snow looked curious about the situation, and Vanille was comforting Hope, who was near to tears, but also glaring at Snow, who was oblivious to the hateful look that was being aimed at him.

"Well? Is someone going to tell us or what?" Naruto asked, before a giant zombie suddenly charged at the blond, causing Lightning, Sazh and Snow to get in fighting stances, but it wasn't needed. Naruto merely created a Rasengan and rammed the ball of chakra into the zombie, which exploded on impact. Naruto looked at the pieces of the corpse of the zombie that had tried to attack him, only to shrug, before he turned to the others, who were looking at him in shock. "What? Did I do something wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" Naruto looked confused.

"Naruto." Konan called out the young blond, who looked at the origami master with a puzzled expression. "This is a completely different place, they don't know about our techniques."

"Oh yea ... oops." Naruto looked sheepish by this point and turned to the still stunned group. Naruto then spotted the crystallized Serah and gave the group a confused expression. "Is that a girl? Who's turned to crystal?"

"Yes." Lightning answered, annoyance creeping into her voice. "She's my sister ... but I failed to save her."

"They turn cute girls like her into crystal? Where the fuck did we end up!" Naruto demanded, while Konan looked curious as well.

"This is the Gran Pulse, though at the moment we're in a Pulse Vestige, but it's gonna be destroyed because of the L'Cie, which my fiancée was turned into by accident." Snow offered up this time. "She was turned to Crystal gaining eternal sleep because she completed her task, had she failed, she would have turned into one of those creatures that you just destroyed."

"So let me get this straight ... you fail the task, you get turned into a zombie, but if you succeed in your task you get turned to crystal?" Naruto asked, while the three older members of the group nodded, the two ninjas looked at each. "What kind of fucked up world is this? That's so goddamn stupid! There's nothing good about either award you gain for succeeding or failing!"

"I have to agree with Naruto on this one that does seem pretty stupid." Konan agreed with the younger ninja, who looked surprised, before shrugging not really caring too much if the older woman agreed with him or not.

"Just how did you get here?" Sazh asked suddenly. "It's not like anyone just arrives by falling from over a 100 feet, which should have killed you by the way." Sazh told Naruto, not mentioning his kiss with Lightning, fearing that she might punch him like she had punched Naruto earlier when she found out that she was being kissed by him.

"Err ..." Naruto looked at Konan, asking the silent question of whether or not that they should tell the group about how they got there or not, but Konan shrugged not really giving the blond an answer to his question. Naruto decided that he should tell them after all. "Well, you're probably not going to believe me when I tell you."

"Try me." Lightning, Snow and Sazh replied at the same time, before looking at each other wondering if they were looking forward to hearing their story for some odd reason.

"Anyway, we're ninjas and well, I live in one village filled with a whole country filled with them and Konan and her boy decided to attack us." Naruto started, before yelling out in pain when Konan sliced his cheek with a paper blade.

"He's not my boyfriend! He's my best friend, even if I did have a crush on him." Konan muttered, before sinking into a corner muttering to herself about how she regretted never trying to having sex with both of her friends at once, making the others sweat drop at her actions. Naruto took it at a sign of what he had been told before when he was younger; when a person becomes stronger their sanity starts to fade away, the more powerful the person the quicker the process. He had personally thought that it wasn't true, but seeing the way Konan was acting just made it true, the blond paled slightly, before he looked at the others who were giving him strange looks.

"She's a victim of gaining too much power, the younger you are the more quickly you lose your sanity." Naruto told them, making Lightning glare at him even more, not believing him for the moment, while Sazh and Snow sweat dropped, not knowing what to make of that. "Hey Konan, stop acting so depressed already, what would Nagato and Yahiko be saying if they saw you acting like this?" Naruto asked, making the blue haired woman freeze at that thought, what would they think if they saw her acting like this? They would be trying to cheer her up, not wanting to see her so upset, even if it was for a good reason, but being the loyal friends that they were, they would continuously try to cheer Konan up.

"I-I'm fine." Konan told Naruto as she got to her feet again, wondering why she had reacted the way that she had. "So, what are we going to do now?"

"I'm going to get my fiancée back." Snow announced making his way to the room behind the now open doors.

"I want my sister to be returned." Lightning sneered angrily, storming up the stairs. Naruto and Konan looked at Sazh, since Vanille was trying to comfort Hope, who was still being a miserable brat.

"I'm just going to follow them." Sazh sighed, not liking what he was being stuck with at the moment, but then again, who would be?

"I guess we might as well follow them then," Naruto looked at Konan.

"Looks that way." Konan agreed, before they heard a high pitched screech making the three of them turn in time to see Lightning stabbing a flying zombie, which started fading away, while Snow had destroyed another zombie with his fists.

"Well, look on the bright side, at least we won't be bored!" Naruto cheered before he started charging up the stairs as well, using another Rasengan to destroy another zombie nearby. Konan and Sazh simply watched the three of them destroying the monsters around them, before they looked at each other.

"I guess we might as well help them then," Konan offered, while Vanille and Hope suddenly started running to the battle as well, well, it was more like Vanille was dragging Hope to the battlefield while he was protesting. "And make sure that the children don't get hurt."

"Kids these days." Sazh sighed as Vanille destroyed some of the zombies, while Hope did the same just to keep himself alive during the dangerous times. "We better join as well."

"Yes." Konan agreed before they both joined the battle to destroy the zombies, Sazh using his guns and Konan using her paper based attacks. Soon all of the creatures were destroyed Snow, Lightning, Naruto and Sazh were walking through the door, while Konan was looking at Vanille and Hope, before she led them both into the main room where the others were now in. Hope looked around in awe of their surroundings.

"So this is ... the fal'Cie." Hope noted to himself looking at the thing before them in surprise, it was a huge mechanical thing, Naruto and Konan meanwhile didn't know what to say about it, this was almost like Nagato only with more wires and less friendly to anyone of the outside world and that it clearly wasn't a human being.

"Serah's a crystal now." Snow started talking to the thing in front of them, much to the ninja's surprise, since they didn't know what this thing had to do with the girl's crystallized form. "You gave her a focus, and she did it!" Snow shouted at the creature pointing at it in anger, while Naruto and Konan finally understood their reason for coming in this room and talking to this thing. "You got what you want! Now let her go!" Snow demanded the fal'Cie to let his fiancée go, but it didn't respond, it made no movement to even say that it was even alive. Snow now dropped to his hands and knees. "Please. Turn her back!" Snow now sat on his knees and held his hand to his chest. "I'll be your l'Cie instead!"

"Fine, you go on begging." Lightning by this time had had enough of being patience, waiting for Snow to use his mentions, because she had now drawn her blade and started charging at the creature before them. "Like this thing gives a damn about what we want!" Lightning tried to slice at the creature, once, twice, three times. She was then forced to stop by some unknown force.

"Lightning!" Snow called out to her in worry, he didn't know what to think of this anymore, all he wanted was just to have Serah back to normal.

"It's this thing's fault the Purge started, and it's people who are dying." Lightning spoke, sounding angry. "Serah told us to save Cocoon. That means this thing needs to die!" Lightning declared angrily. Suddenly the floor beneath them started to glow a bright yellow colour much to everyone's surprise, room suddenly lit up and the machine started to shine brightly, the sides air fans started to smoke dark smoke, only to reveal that they were not fans, but mechanical arms. The creature's mechanical being glowed brightly, causing everyone to cover their eyes.

"I can't see!" Hope told them.

"No shit! I don't think anyone can!" Naruto shouted at the young boy as the light faded to reveal a body, the body of Anima, the Pulse fal'Cie, Lightning took a few steps back at the sight of the being.

"What the ..." Sazh looked surprised, while Hope looked extremely fearful, having covered his ears before he turned away and started to run, down the corridor that they had come down to get where they were, Hope was running back, only to pause at what he was seeing, he circled himself in shock and horror. The gears were turning and various mechanical devices were moving by themselves, it was also as if they there the lifeblood of the fal'Cie itself, pumping the power down to Anima. Hope stayed for a moment longer, before he continued to run. Anima crystallized face glowed suddenly and Hope found his exit to be blocked by a yellow barrier force, knocking the young boy to his feet as he ran into it. Vanille came running down to see if her friend was alright, while Sazh was trying to reason with Lightning. "Come on, now. You really think you can kill a fal'Cie?"

"I'm doing this for Serah!" Lightning announced as she pointed her blade at the fal'Cie, Anima, Snow got into a fighting stance as well.

"Dajh ..." Sazh uttered to himself, as various screens of the mark of Anima's brand lit up. The baby chocobo chick looked up from Sazh's hair, before diving back in. "I'm in." Sazh declared his intentions suddenly. "As long as you don't mind an amateur." Snow didn't seem to mind, and neither did Lightning. "I've got these things." Sazh raised his guns up. "I might as well use 'em!"

"Thanks." Lightning uttered as she looked back at Sazh.

"I'm joining in as well!" Naruto announced suddenly, making everyone looked at him in surprise. "This thing has marked people as its own, but yet it lets them die like it doesn't give a shit? Well, I'm sorry, but I don't like that in anyone, let alone things that aren't human!" Naruto got himself ready for battle by doing the very hand seal that made him so dangerous before he even come to this world. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Numerous copies of Naruto were suddenly made by the blond and they also got into a battle stance.

"I'll join you as well." Konan told them, as she got into a battle stance. "Naruto and I don't know much about this world, but we will need someone to help us around, plus I need to honour my best friend's last worlds and his dreams, so if I do nothing and simply watch, I would be ignoring his last words to me!" Konan explained her reasons to the other people that she and Naruto had found themselves with.

"Thank you, both of you." Lightning thanked the two ninjas, not bothering to register that Naruto had created clones of himself, as she was now in battle mode, deprived of all emotions until the battle was done. They then charged at Anima completely intent on killing the creature before them, Naruto, Lightning and Snow tried to get the main part of Anima itself, only for the creature to attempt to slam part of its body into them. Konan and Sazh tried to attack the arms, which looked more like Manipulators, Naruto, Lightning and Snow looked at each other, and then they looked at Sazh and Konan.

"Go for the arms!" Konan ordered suddenly, being the more experienced person when it came to fighting, she knew that they had to take out those things here and now, or else they would be in trouble for the rest of the fight. The 'arms' seemed to have realized that the humans where planning on attacking them, so it decided to attack they group instead, using the power of heat that it created due to the friction caused by the arms spinning on the ground. Some of Naruto's clones tried to attack the arms, only to be set on fire and started running around screaming for someone to put out the flame, before they died disappearing in a poof of smoke. They stared at what had happened to the clones with a strange expression, before Naruto started creating more clones.

"I'm going to use my clones as bait, so we can see what the attacks would be able to do on normal people." Naruto told them. "So we can prepare for the things to come."

"..." Konan stared at the boy with an interested expression. "You've gotten smarter since the last report that we had on you, Naruto." Konan admitted suddenly, causing the young boy to give her a look.

"Oh yes, thank you very much, I take your comment in the greatest form of flattery I can ever receive." Naruto told Konan sarcastically, not looking impressed. Another of Naruto's clones being destroyed reminded them that they were in fact fighting a creature that could very well destroy them if they weren't paying attention. "Err, anyway, let's just kill this thing and be done with it shall we?"

"I thought that much was obvious." Lightning told them as she sliced at one of the arms of Anima, before she jumped back when it powered up its grinding attack, which would have burnt her if she didn't dodge. Sazh was making use of his ability of being able to attack from long range with his guns to get more than a few shots at the two arms and the main part of Anime itself, while Konan was using paper based attacks from long range to good use. Soon one of the two arms was destroyed and they started attacking the other arm as well, Snow was using his incredible strength to create dents in the arms itself, before Lightning attacked it with her blade, only for Naruto to finish it with a Rasengan.

"What is it doing?" Sazh asked as Anima started twitching and pulsing out energy as if trying to regenerate something.

"Don't know, but I don't care either!" Snow told Sazh as he and Lightning charged at Anima punching and slashing at it respectively, Naruto created a few clones and powered up a Rasengan before charging himself. He hit Anima with his Rasengan, but much to his shock and surprise it didn't destroy the creature.

"That's a little concerning." Naruto muttered to himself, before suddenly Anima regenerated it's 'arms' and blow Naruto, Lightning and Snow away, they all skidded away and ended up near both Sazh and Konan, who was just as surprised at the others were.

"Same routine as before?" Sazh asked.

"Yeah." Konan told them.

"Let's just destroy it already!" Lightning hissed angrily wanting to kill the very being that cursed her sister to eternal sleep. So they started to attack the arms of Anima again, destroying the first one with ease as if it was merely child's play, before they turned to the second arm which was also destroyed with ease, it was almost as if they had all gotten used to each other's style of fighting and used each other's strengths and weaknesses and covered them up. Anima was now trying to once again revive its 'arms' which allowed Naruto, Lightning and Snow to attack it again, while Sazh and Konan covered them with their long ranged attacks.

"I'm loving this!" Naruto grinned widely, only to look behind him as his clones were destroyed by the 'arms' that had once again been revived by their user. "Jump back!"

"Get out of there!" Konan shouted, while Naruto, Lightning and Snow were once again blown back by winds. Snow landed on his back, but Lightning and Naruto had ended up with the swordswoman straddling the blond, much to their protest. Lightning quickly got off of Naruto, but didn't hit him, much to the blonde's relief.

"I keep on getting more and more reasons to kill this fal'Cie!" Lightning sneered as she rushed into battle attacking one of the arms. Naruto blinked and looked at Snow for a second.

"I'm not that bad looking am I?" Naruto asked the older blond, who snorted.

"Dude, I am not answering that." Snow told the younger blond. "But, Lightning's a hard nut to crack, so don't bother getting concerned over it."

"Alright." Naruto shrugged. "Getting advice about girls during a battle is definitely a new experience for me."

"Just help me kill this fal'Cie already!" Lightning demanded suddenly as she sliced through another mechanical arm, while Snow and Naruto literally smashed the other arm into tiny pieces within seconds. Konan and Sazh were continuously attacking from long range, giving them support. Anima started to regenerate its arms again, which made Naruto sweat drop slightly.

"Say, why does this creature keep on trying to regenerate its arms? Isn't it a waste of power and energy and gives us a breakthrough?" Naruto asked the others, who just attacked Anima around its body. "Never mind." Naruto charged up another Rasengan and attempted to slam the ball of charka into the being's face, only to be hit in the side by the metal claw that was by the side of the being.

"Naruto!" Konan cried out in worry, only for Naruto to land on his feet like nothing happened.

"What?" Naruto actually had the nerve to look curious about why the woman was worried, before the arms had once again regenerated. The arms this time powered up a lightning bomb like move that had Naruto worried. Naruto created two clones, which took the places of Lightning and Snow, just as they unleashed to lightning bombs, vaporizing the two clones instantly. Snow and Lighting looked shocked at how close that they had just come to dying at the hands of the fal'Cie Anima.

"That was close ..." Snow uttered.

"Tell me about it." Lightning agreed.

"You two alright?" Naruto asked, holding both of his hands to help them to their feet, which they both accepted. "Those arms or hands of this thing really are more powerful than they let on."

"That much is obvious." Lightning told the blond bluntly, causing the younger blond to glare at her for a moment.

"Look, I know that I'm not your favourite person at the moment, but there is no need to act like I'm the worst person in the world, it's not like I took your first kiss or anything is it?" Naruto snapped at Lightning, who glared even more at Naruto, blushing angrily. "Oh my god, I did take your first kiss didn't I!"

"Kid, shut up and dodge!" Snow told them as the two arms were now pointing at them and fired their lightning bombs, aiming to kill the trio where they stood.

"NARUTO!"

"LIGHTNING!"

"SNOW!"

* * *

Vanille and Hope looked down the corridor where an explosion had suddenly erupted, making the two children look scared and confused in Hope's situation, while Vanille looked concerned for the five adults that had helped them to survive so far.

"W-we need to get out of here somehow." Hope told Vanille in a panicky voice.

"Hope." Vanille uttered softly. "If we are to get out of here alive, we'll need the other people, even Snow."

"Why? Why should I put my fate that somehow, Snow is going to turn around and apologize for being responsible for killing mum?" Hope demanded suddenly. "I'm not about to hope that anything is possible."

"Hope."

"Come on, we need to see that they're alright, don't we?" Hope asked Vanille, before making his way back to the others.

"Yeah!" Vanille followed the boy to where the others were, hoping that his intentions were good ones.

* * *

The dust cleared to show that Naruto, Lightning and Snow were fine, just a little bit annoyed by the sneak attack. Mostly Naruto, since his orange jacket had been destroyed in the blast when he had thrown it into the attack so that it would be vaporized instead of them. Naruto sighed before he pulled out a scroll and opened it up, to reveal a blood red jacket, which had the visual of a being with nine tails, before he pulled the jacket on. Naruto glared at the creature before him.

"You destroyed the jacket with my favourite colour on it." Naruto hissed angrily. "Now you shall die!"

"Over a piece of clothing?" Snow asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Shut up! It was giving to me by my teacher!" Naruto glared at Snow.

"Alright, just saying."

"Just hurry up and kill the fal'Cie already!" Lightning demanded before she started attacking the arms, with Naruto and Snow not far behind. Konan and Sazh looked on with sweat dropping slightly.

"I don't even want to ask." Sazh admitted as he aimed his guns.

"Neither do I." Konan agreed as she readied the paper kunai.

"Is everyone okay?" Vanille asked as she and Hope entered the scene.

"Yes." Sazh answered, causing Hope to frown, he was hoping that at least Snow had been hurt in some way or form. Both of Anima's arms were destroyed again, causing the fal'Cie to try and regenerate them again, much to everyone's annoyance.

"You want to help?" Konan asked Vanille and Hope, who both looked at older woman in surprise.

"Are you sure?" Hope asked, not sounding sure about himself.

"You know how to fight?" Konan asked

"Well, a little bit." Hope admitted shyly, looking a bit nervous.

"Yep! We were beating monsters left, right and centre, even before Snow came and helped us out!" Vanille told Konan and Sazh cheerfully.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" Naruto suddenly shouted, causing the other to turn to where Snow, Lightning and Naruto were, making them see that they were dodging some lightning bombs that the Anima was trying to kill them with.

"You'll need to help them get those arms!" Konan told Vanille and Hope, much to the children's surprise.

"A-are you sure?" Hope asked nervously, wondering if she was asking the right person.

"You got here didn't you? With the others there, you'll be fine! Especially with Naruto there." Konan told the children, causing them look at the blond, who had pulled Lightning and Snow out of the way of another set of lightning bombs. Vanille and Hope looked at each other before they too started to help. Hope threw his boomerang, while Vanille started using her rod, while caused some damage to the arms, making the others look to see the children helping them out. Naruto looked surprised by this, since he knew that Hope was around his age, but Vanille was actually an adult, at least three years older than him.

The attacked, and attacked, the two arms were destroyed and everyone attacked the powerful being. The fal'Cie Anima couldn't even start to regenerate its arms, before they finally got it to surrender, but it wasn't truly over. The fal'Cie may have been shaken, but they were not safe, as they quickly learnt when they suddenly found themselves floating, underneath a green crystal's light, almost as if they were floating in water.

"Where are we?" Lightning asked looking completely lost, confused and worried.

"What's going on?" Snow asked, as they look on.

"My eyes, they're burning." Naruto hissed darkly, holding his hands over his eyes when the crystal shined brightly as a torrent of water flushed through to wash over the crystal. The sound of church bells could suddenly be heard, and the true form of Anima could suddenly be seen, moving its arms, it bright yellow eyes glowing, the gears over its body moving continuously. The seven people could only watch in shock and awe at the being before them, even Naruto was now. The bells could be heard chiming away before green whips suddenly unleashed themselves and grabbed hold of everyone, drawing them in.

"Damn it! Let us go!" Naruto demanded angrily as he tried to break free of his bindings, before Anima unleashed beams of white light, hitting them in various places, Snow was hit on the arm, Lighting around her chest, Sazh was hit around his chest as well. Konan was hit around her neck, while Naruto was hit around his arm. Anima then let them go, where they all started falling, falling, falling. An image struck them suddenly, an image of a powerful creature destroying everything around it, destroying Cocoon.

* * *

Crystal started to explode from the inside of the Vestige, while the Vestige itself suddenly created a shockwave which destroyed various things nearby, before it started to fall towards the ocean below. When it hit the ocean another explosion was caused, causing numerous waves to be started, only for them all to suddenly freeze into crystal. The Vestige that once held Anima in its last act, had branded the group into l'Cie and had tuned into crystal, the fate of everything and everyone below was unknown. One thing was known for certain, things were definitely not going to be easy, for anyone at all.

* * *

Alright, that is chapter 2 done!

I have to say that the amount of reviews that the first chapter alone, made me want to continue this, 30 reviews per chapter is alot for most people.

Anyway, I've already decided that Naruto will be travelling with Lightning and Hope, while Konan will travel with Sazh and Vanille, since it was pretty obvious that everyone wanted it.

The pairings are Naruto x Lighting, Konan x Sazh and Snow x Serah.

I plan on going further than the game, just so you people know alright, so don't worry too much about it.

I've also got another thing to ask you people.

Who do you want Naruto's and Konan's summons to be?

It can't be someone who is already being used by one of the other characters, so no Bahamut.

Anyway, I hope that you guy are enjoying this story, cause I enjoy writing it.

Until next time, goodbye and goodnight.


	3. Pissed off Foxes and Regrouping

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, this is a challenge given to me by N.A.B. 0206

Before I start, I have 4 fics, while I will update in this order

The Gran Pulse Sage

Naruto The New Trainer

A Vampire's Lover

My Mum's a Keyblade Master!

So don't start complaining that I'm not updating fast enough.

Apart from that, let's begin!

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

Pissed off Foxes and Regrouping

* * *

The Ages of the Group

Sazh - 40

Konan - 35

Lightning and Snow - 21

Vanille - 19

Naruto - 16

Hope - 14

* * *

When Naruto slowly opened his eyes, he quickly realized that he wasn't in the real world, but he was in fact in his mind, outside of the Seal which kept Kyuubi at bay. The blond haired boy had to realize that he was in fact laying in water, before he was able to get up himself. He didn't know why, but he was slightly concerned that he would find himself here of all places at the worst possible moment. Kyuubi was leaning against his cage, snarling down at the human that was keeping it prisoner angrily, he knew just what had happened on the outside world, and was beyond pissed off.

"**Naruto Uzumaki.**" Kyuubi snarled, looking even more menacing than usual, which got the blond looking concerned.

"What do you want, you stupid fox?" Naruto frowned at the giant fox.

"**DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA HOW MUCH YOU'VE FUCKED UP IN THE FAL'CIE'S VESTIGE?" **Kyuubi roared at the top of its lungs angrily, making Naruto take a couple of steps back, never seeing the demonic fox look so angry about something. "**ALL I FUCKING ASK IS THAT YOU DON'T SCREW SOMETHING UP, SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE YOUR RAMEN! BUT ALL I GET IS A SPIT IN THE FACE, BECAUSE YOU'VE FUCKED UP IN THE BIGGEST WAY POSSIBLE! THIS IS AN INSULT TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE! I WILL NOT HAVE MY CONTAINER BEING A SERVANT TO ONE OF THE FAL'CIE! YOU UNDERSTAND ME!"**

"Wait, what! You've pissed off because I was branded by the fal'Cie? And became an l'Cie or whatever they are?" Naruto looked confused by what the fox was pissed off about.

"**OF COURSE I AM YOU STUPID MONKEY! I HAVE MORE POWER THAN ALL OF THEM COMBINED AND YET YOU ARE FORCED TO DO A TASK FOR THEM!" **Kyuubi roared. "**YOU DISGUST ME WITH YOUR STUPIDITY! YOU HEAR ME! DISGUST ME!"**

"Alright, I get it. You're pissed off, but how about this, since you're acting a woman who's on her time of the month, why don't you just sleep off your anger for now?" Naruto told the fox, who seemed to get even angrier than before.

"**When I get out of this seal, I will peel off your skin like a potato, and then devour you whole, making sure that you feel as much pain as possible!"** Kyuubi hissed out his threat, which made Naruto shiver at the intensity of it all. That was simply the scariest tone that he had even hear the fox use, and to use it with a threat to kill him in the most painful way, just didn't make Naruto feel that good.

"I'm sure you will. Now I better go since I have to find out more about this world." Naruto told Kyuubi, who lashed out his claw to try and stab him, only to find that not only was he blocked, but the blond had already faded away.

"**One of these days ... I will make sure he dies ... in the most painful way." **Kyuubi hissed to itself, before laughing evilly to itself.

* * *

Naruto's eyes snapped open after he left, not hearing the last bit of what Kyuubi had said just as he had left his mind. But still Naruto couldn't help but look around in awe; it was absolutely stunning to see the ocean having been turned into Crystal like this. He looked to his left and saw that Snow was reaching upwards, making Naruto wonder what he was doing, before he shrugged and stood up.

"Serah!" Snow suddenly shouted as he sat up quickly and began to look around him, to find that Naruto was already conscious and that the others were regaining consciousness. They all stood up, as Snow looked around in shock. "Is this ... for real?" The others were also looking around in surprise, while Hope was still sitting down, his head in his arms.

"This must be ... Lake Bresha?" Sazh noted, while both Naruto and Konan looked confused by the name alone. "I guess we fall from up there, and the lake turned to crystal?" Sazh pointed out, looking up at where they had previously been. "Help me out here! I mean, did the fal'Cie do this? How in the world did we end up here?" Sazh asked Lightning, looking a little lost.

"How should I know?" Lightning answered Sazh's question with a question of her own.

"We have to remain calm, we don't know what's out there." Konan tried to calm down the other people around her, only to be ignored. Meanwhile Vanille dropped to her knees.

"We're alive. How?" Vanille asked, looking surprised by what had happened.

"Serah!" Snow came to a conclusion suddenly, making everyone turn to him."No one survives a fall that high, not without a miracle. Serah saved us!"

"Serah?" Lightning asked, not sounding too pleased with what the blond had said. "Listen, it's all your fault she got ..." Lighting started, only for a giant zombie to start walking out from a hiding place.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Sazh shouted, getting nervous, Lighting looked more shocked than anything else, Naruto and Konan were about to move, but they didn't have to.

"Watch out!" Snow shouted as he charged towards the creature that was about to strike Lightning. He got in between the woman and the zombie and blocked the creature's hands and then forced them back, before suddenly the mark of the l'Cie started glowing in a blue light. He punched the creature and sent it flying, much to his shock. "What did I ... just do?" Snow asked, looking at his arm, or at the mark of being an l'Cie.

"You used magic!" Hope told him suddenly, getting up. Vanille looked at him, only to gasp when she realized that they were getting surrounded by numerous zombies, or Cie'th. "You used the power of an l'Cie. The fal'Cie cursed us. We're l'Cie now!" Hope explained, reminding everyone of their fate. It didn't take too long for Lightning to draw her sword.

"Right." Lightning frowned, but got into a battle stance nonetheless. Naruto and Konan looked at each other, Naruto giving Konan a calm look.

"You've felt it too, right?" Naruto asked the older woman.

"Yes, our chakra capacities have increased because of this fal'Cie marking us." Konan told Naruto, who nodded in agreement.

"Not that I needed it, but I'll take any improvements any day!" Naruto told Konan as he created numerous clones, which all charged at the Cie'th. Snow and Vanille also got into fighting positions as well, knowing that they were going to have to fight just to get out of this mess.

"Shit!" One of the clones got sliced in half by one of the Cie'th, before popping out of existence. Such was the life of a shadow clone unfortunately enough. Naruto meanwhile decided that it was time for him to show them a new move that he hadn't shown them yet, but then decided not to do so, since it wasn't that desperate yet. Naruto and Lightning soon found themselves back to back, much to their surprise, but charged at a different Cie'th, Lightning slicing throw it with ease, while Naruto slammed a Rasengan which shattered it upon impact.

Meanwhile, Konan found herself back to back with Sazh, who looked surprised, but drew his guns, knowing that he had to defend himself against these creatures. Hope and Vanille were back to back as well, Hope looking more and more determined throughout the battle, after seeing more and more enemies fall to his boomerang and Vanille's rod. Hope spotted Naruto giving him the thumbs up, making the boy think that he was doing something right, and continued to slice the Cie'th apart with his boomerang, which was being powered up by magic. Snow was meanwhile punching his way through the Cie'th; some of them fell apart upon impact, while others were destroyed after a few hits.

It didn't take too long for the last to fall; it fell onto its back, seemingly out of energy, and hoping that it would survive, only for it to fade away into the darkness. Snow looked at his l'Cie mark for a moment, before looking at the group.

"So we really are l'Cie." Snow announced, causing Lightning to turn away from Snow, while rolling her eyes, only to be greeted to the sight of Naruto trying to find his mark, by stripping.

"Put some clothes on you idiot!" Lightning fumed at Naruto, blushing as she did so. Naruto looked up with a confused expression on his face, only to be hit round the back of the head by a paper rock, causing the blond to yelp at the impact. Sazh was meanwhile looking down at his chest, only to sigh as he spotted his branding.

"Looks like it." Sazh told Snow.

"You too?" Snow asked Vanille.

"Yep." Vanille nodded to the blond. "Right here." Vanille pulled back her skirt a little bit, to reveal that her brand was on her upper left thigh, making a fully clothed Naruto's eyes to widen and for Snow to wonder what the Fal'Cie was doing that for.

"Okay." Snow really didn't want to know why her mark was there.

"... Was the Fal'Cie feeling horny by the time it marked you?" Naruto asked Vanille, who started stuttering excuses of how she didn't try to do anything. Naruto was then punched around the back of the head, by an annoyed looking Konan.

"Naruto, shut up." Konan sighed, while the blond in question pouted at her, wondering just what he did to deserve that one.

"L'Cie to the last." Lightning pointed out as Hope suddenly dropped to his knees with a look of disbelief written over his face.

"Why me?" Hope asked, before suddenly looked at Lightning. "I don't even know you! But you had to go ahead and attack that thing?" Hope's gaze ran over to Sazh, Snow, Naruto and Konan. "Just leave me alone!" Hope looked at Snow again. "It's your fault ... it's your fault my ..." Hope clenched his fists. "You could've ..." Hope suddenly stood up and stared right at Snow. "All of this is your and Serah's fault!" Hope lashed out at Snow.

"Watch it!" Snow snapped at Hope angrily, causing the boy to fall down panicking, only to crawl backwards into Lightning. He looked up at her, while she glared down at him, causing the boy to roll away from her. He started to sound like that he was starting to cry and or panic, not knowing what he should be doing. Snow sighed, holding his hand to his face. "Sorry." The older blond apologized for snapping at Hope, while Vanille started to comfort Hope, by placing her hands on his shoulder, making him look at her.

"Everything is gonna to be all right. You'll see." Vanille comforted the young boy. "Come on." Vanille pulled Hope to his feet. "Off we go." And started to drag him off by the arm, causing Naruto blinked for a moment, wondering just what she had done and what influence Vanille had over Hope. It was at that moment that Naruto realized that Snow, Sazh, Lightning and Konan were all following the two of them.

"So, we're following them now?" Naruto asked, wondering just what was going on, but was simply ignored. "Guys? Guys?" Naruto tried again, only to be ignored again, much to his annoyance. "This isn't funny! Where are we going?" Naruto complained, but followed nonetheless. "Guys!"

"Naruto, calm down, we have no direction to go, so we don't know where we are going." Konan told Naruto, who blushed, realizing that he was being a bit stupid there. "So at the moment, we're just following on, wondering where the road takes us."

"Or in this case, where the crystallized sea takes us." Naruto pointed out.

"Yes." Konan nodded.

"Great, just when my life was fucked up enough as it is, to think that Kyuubi was really pissed off about me becoming an l'Cie." Naruto sighed, though Konan was now looking at him in shock.

"It was pissed off about you being an L'Cie?" Konan repeated.

"Yea, something about how it was so much greater in power than the Fal'Cie and that it was an insult for its container ended up being an l'Cie or something like that." Naruto told Konan.

"Interesting." Konan mused, before she shook her head. "Never mind, let's just get going."

"Yea." Naruto nodded as they continued on; following the group that they were unofficially part of.

* * *

It didn't take long for the two ninjas to catch up to the group, as they had stopped themselves.

"Okay, if we don't know our Focus, how do we complete it?" Lightning asked the group that she had found herself travelling with. Vanille turned to the older woman.

"I think ... I saw it." Vanille admitted. Lightning turned to Vanille.

"Saw what?" Lightning asked.

"That is how a Focus comes down, people. The fal'Cie? They don't spell it out with clear cut instructions. All you get is a hazy glimpse." Sazh told them, making everyone turn to him with curious expressions. "Well, that's what they say. You know legends and all." Sazh held up his hands defensively as he turned away from them with his hands on his hips.

"Did you see anything?" Lightning asked Hope, who looked nervous at the site of her, since he had technically blamed her sister for why he had been branded as a Pulse l'Cie, after all.

"I uh ... I just ... It's all kind of foggy, but ... I saw this big, I mean towering." Hope started to explain, but got surprised expressions from everyone around him.

"W-wait a minute." Sazh interrupted. "Hold on now. Did we all have the same dream?" Sazh asked everyone.

"Ragnarok." Lightning, Hope and Snow said at the same time, making Naruto and Konan look confused.

"Who?" Naruto asked with a confused expression.

"Monster from the dream." Lightning explained.

"Oh, right." Naruto nodded, realizing what they were talking about now. It wasn't clear for him beforehand, he never even heard of the name before.

"So, we all saw the same dream." Sazh mused. "We all heard that same voice."

"You mean that was our Focus?" Hope asked, making Naruto's eyes widened as he realized that the Focus was some kind of task that they had to do. "But how are we meant to know what to do from that?"

"That's the tricky part." Vanille told them, making everyone turn to her now. "The dream's the only hint the fal'Cie gives us. Figuring out what to do with it, that's our job!"

"Okay, okay." Sazh interrupted. "We're Pulse l'Cie, right? Enemies of Cocoon!" Sazh reminded everyone. "So, does that mean our focus is ...?" Sazh paused. "Are we supposed to ..."

"Save her." Snow interrupted Sazh this time.

"Say what?" Sazh asked, looking surprised by what the blond had said.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked Snow, looking puzzled by the older blond.

"Our Focus is to protect Cocoon." Snow told them.

"Somehow I don't see it." Konan told him.

"Really? Okay and why's that?" Vanille asked the blond haired man.

"Serah told us." Snow answered sounding determined about saving the world. "Let's do it. We're all in this together." Snow told them. "I'm gonna look for Serah. She ought to be nearby." Snow told them before running off.

"I'll come too!" Vanille announced suddenly, before she ran off after him. "Wait!" Sazh meanwhile sighed to himself, and started walking after them.

"That boy can't stay still." Sazh pointed out as he followed them.

"I better follow, to make sure they don't get into trouble." Konan sighed, before she too ran off to catch up with the others.

"..." Hope stared at Lightning who was frowning, before he looked at Naruto who was whistling away happily. "Hey ... Naruto."

"Hm? What is it Hope?" Naruto asked the young boy.

"Shouldn't we ... stick together? Just so we can be prepared?" Hope asked the blond teenager who grinned at him.

"Indeed we should, you've got a smart head on your shoulders, Hope." Naruto told the other boy, who blushed at the praise, the blush darkened when Naruto suddenly rubbed the top of his head much to his embarrassment. "Come on, Lightning. You're coming too." Naruto told the pink haired swordswoman, whose frown simply deepened, making the blond smirk slyly. "Come on, please?"

"No." Lightning finally answered Naruto.

"But I don't want to leave pretty little Lightning, all alone out here where she could get eaten." Naruto told the swordswoman, making her blink before turn to him, wondering just what he was talking about.

"No." Lightning repeated herself, looking slightly annoyed now. While Naruto looked thoughtful.

"Come on, Naruto. It's obvious that she doesn't want anything to do with us." Hope tried to convince Naruto to leave the scary swordswoman alone, but much to Hope's shock, Naruto simply grinned widely.

"Never stopped me before." Naruto admitted, before Lightning suddenly found herself scooped onto Naruto's shoulder, in a fireman carry style. The swordswoman was so shocked, that she didn't even register the fact that the blond slipped her blade out of its sheath. When she finally realized that the blond was in fact now carrying her over his shoulder, she immediately responded.

"Put me down! I demand that you put me down right now!" Lightning shouted as she started to wiggle her way out of the position that she was in right now, but it didn't work, his hold was too great. So she tried to draw her sword, she went pale after realizing that her blade wasn't in its pouch, but in the hands of the blond that was currently carrying her. "Damn you! I swear if you don't put me down, I will kill you!" Lightning shouted as she continued to try and fight her way out of it, even attempting to elbow the blond in the side of the face, but it didn't work.

"Nope." Naruto chuckled as he started to carry her down to where the others were, Hope was watching the scene in shock and awe, and what appeared to be a glitter of admiration appeared in his eyes. Hope realized now, that he felt more comfortable around Naruto for some strange reason, but he didn't know why, only with Vanille was he more comfortable, and that was because she had tried to help him. Suddenly, Hope realized just why he was getting comfortable around Naruto. As strange as it was, Hope was starting to look up to the blond as someone he could say that he was starting to respect. He wouldn't go as far as to say that he was starting to see a role model in him just yet, but he could definitely say that he saw something in Naruto, that he wished that he could be like one day.

"Hey Hope!" Naruto called out to the silver haired boy, who blinked in surprise, before he realized that Naruto was actually quite a bit ahead of him, with Lightning still struggling to get him to let go of her. "Hurry up! I don't want to leave you behind."

"C-coming, Naruto!" Hope told the blond as he started to make his way down, while thinking about what made him feel so comfortable around the blond, but could only find the fact they he had tried to encourage him, where Lightning and Snow had done the opposite, Sazh hadn't done much wrong and neither had Konan, but Vanille had been the same, maybe it was also because of the fact that Naruto was close to his age group as well, there was only two years between them, if you looked at them as they were now. When Naruto, Hope and Lightning, who was still on Naruto's shoulder caught up with the rest of the group, they instantly stared at Lightning, was still trying to get Naruto to let her go.

"Naruto, what are you doing with Lightning?" Konan asked, causing the others to nod in agreement, not able to say anything for what they were saying.

"Just making her come with us, she was being childish." Naruto told Konan and the others.

"I wasn't being childish!" Lightning shouted, still trying to break free. "What do I have to do to get you to let me down!" Lightning asked angrily, huffing in annoyance, while Naruto gave a thoughtful expression.

"Agree to come with us." Naruto told Lightning, who froze, not expecting it to be that easy.

"Fine." Lightning told Naruto. "I want to travel with you, there happy now?" Lightning asked Naruto, after telling the group that she wanted to travel with them.

"Yep." Naruto agreed, as he let her down. "But not enough to get your sword back."

"B-but I can't defend myself without my blade!" Lightning told the boy, looking shocked.

"Don't care." Naruto looked the other way, but looked at Lightning with one eye open. "Unless you do something for me." Naruto told the swordswoman.

"..." Lightning gave him a cautious look. "What is it?" She sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to win unless she did what he requested.

"Hmm," Naruto tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I want you to ... kiss me." Naruto told Lightning with a small grin.

"W-what?" Lightning stuttered, looking embarrassed that the blond wanted her to kiss him, after everything he had done to her.

"It doesn't have to be on the lips, it can be on the cheek if you want to," Naruto told Lightning, who scowled angrily, before she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, before she quickly pulled away.

"There, I did it now, you happy?" Lightning snarled at Naruto, who simply grinned happily.

"Very, but I think we might have broken Snow." Naruto told Lightning, who turned around quickly to find the tall blond was on the ground, twitching every now and again, what he was doing was anyone's guess. Sazh merely looked surprised, while Konan gave Naruto a disapproving look, Vanille was whispering in Hope's ear, and she giggled, what she had said to the boy, had caused Hope choked on his spit.

"My sword." Lightning demanded, holding her hand out expectantly.

"What's the magic word?" Naruto asked cheekily, before he got punched around the side of the face by a furious Lightning.

"Can I have my sword, please?" Lightning hissed out angrily, her fingers twitching every now and again, looking ready to strangle the blond haired boy in front of him.

"Sure, here you go." Naruto smiled brightly, before he delicately placed the sword into the woman's hands. She took the sword and turned away for a moment, before she suddenly spun around and sliced the blond into two pieces, he looked shocked by what the woman had just done.

"Naruto!" Sazh, Hope and Vanille cried out in shock and horror, Konan however looked calm about the whole situation.

"Lightning! There was no need to go that far!" Snow shouted, as he stood up, having seen what the pink haired worry have done to the shorter blond, only for a stunned expression to spread across his face.

"What? You're not going to scold me anymore?" Lightning scoffed, only to freeze when she felt a slight weight on her shoulder that she knew that she shouldn't feel. She slowly turned her head to find that Naruto was leaning on her shoulder, smiling at the woman.

"I bet you weren't you expecting this?" Naruto asked, something which caused Lightning to nod in agreement, wondering just how the blond had survived being sliced in half, only to find the two pieces still on the floor, before they disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Suddenly the swordswoman found herself on the ground, being straddled by Naruto, who was now glaring menacing at her, his normally warm blue eyes, had turned as cold as ice. "I'm normally a forgiving guy, but if you try something like that again, I won't be forgiving next time, got it?" Naruto asked, his eyes flashing a demonic red for a moment, something that made Lightning feel like her life was being suck out of her, but as soon as his eyes turned back to their normal warm blue, she felt less likely that she was going to die.

"I ... I ... Sorry." Lightning looked away, feeling ashamed with herself, feeling really bad that she had tried to kill the blond simply for being annoying, he wasn't as bad as Snow could be ... okay, maybe he had pushed her further than Snow had ever done since she had known him, but it wasn't excusable.

"No worries." Naruto grinned at Lightning, who looked surprised that the blond had forgiven her so easily and quickly.

"I don't understand," Sazh admitted softly. "Why did he forgive her so quickly, I know that I wouldn't have done so."

"It's because of what he is, and how he's been." Konan told Sazh, knowing that Snow, Hope and Vanille were listening to her as well. "Even when my best friend Nagato and I practically murdered half of his village, he couldn't bring himself to get revenge on us. He said that he may never be able to forgive Nagato, but he wouldn't kill him. I feel that he's giving me a chance before he says anything about me though. But we both know something."

"And what is that?" Sazh asked.

"Revenge, can turn you into a cruel and twisted monster." Konan told him, while Hope blinked, wonder if he was hearing right, when he heard what revenge could do to someone. "You would have to ask Naruto for better details, for he has seen the results of revenge at first hand." Hope looked to Naruto, who was telling Lightning something which made her look at him with a surprised expression and ask him a question, to which Naruto nodded to.

"Alright, let's get going then shall we? We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to be the best that we can be, and if we are to fulfil our Focus." Naruto told them suddenly, making Snow look at him with an excited expression.

"Right! But we need to find Serah first!" Snow told him.

"All right then," Naruto nodded, before he looked at Hope, Sazh, Vanille, Konan and Lightning with a determined expression. "You guys agree with the first thing in hand?"

"Yep!" Vanille chirped happily in agreement.

"Yea." Hope agreed, nodding shyly as he looked at the blond who could be his possible role model.

"At least it's something." Sazh agreed.

"We will fulfil Nagato's dream together." Konan told Naruto. "This is the beginning of our task to do so."

"Why would I need a reason to find my sister, even if she is crystallized, I want to see her one last time." Lightning told the blond boy.

"But she isn't dead, Lightning!" Snow told the pink haired woman, not going to give up on his belief that his fiancée was still alive, despite the fact that she was turned to crystal.

"Shut up Snow!" Lightning snapped at the other blond, causing Naruto to sweat drop, knowing that there was going to be a lot of work to be done, before he could really say that the group that he and Konan were in were fully ready to use teamwork to its fullest. It looked like that it was going to be a long journey from here.

* * *

Okay, that's chapter 3 done, sorry that's it's a bit short, but there are a few things that I want to get off my chest.

First off, I DON'T HATE HOPE! I happen to like him, his character and the way he grows during the game was pretty cool, cute in its own way. Just wanted to let you know that, just so you know that I'm not bashing him, cause at the beginning, he's scared and confused and doesn't know what to do.

Second, before you start, I'm not bashing Lightning either, it does end up being Naruto x Lightning after all. Just like it ends up being a Konan x Sazh and Snow x Serah.

Anyway, for the summons, I was amazed by how many people voted in for Naruto's and Konan's summons, so here they are so far.

* * *

Naruto's summons

Kyuubi (6)

Gilgamesh (5)

Ifrit (4)

Fenrir (4)

Leviathan (4)

Magus Sisters (3)

Knights of the Round (3)

Garuda (2)

Valefor (2)

Zodiark (2)

Diablo (2)

Phoenix (2)

Ultima (1)

Ixion (1)

Mateus (1)

Famfrit (1)

Asura (1)

Quiziqatal (1)

Carbuncal (1)

Sparda (1)

Atmos (1)

Cerburus (1)

Eden (1)

Cactuar (1)

Griever (1)

Samsara (1)

Ark (1)

Chaos (1)

That's a lot of summons

* * *

Konan's summons

Siren (3)

Carbuncle (2)

Ultima (2)

Diabolos (2)

Eden (2)

Leviathan (2)

Slyph (2)

Magus Sisters (1)

Sin (1)

Quezacolt (1)

Asura (1)

Seraph (1)

Ixion (1)

Fairy (1)

Yojimbo (1)

Phoenix (1)

Quite a few summons there.

* * *

Anyway the polls for the summons will continue until ... chapter 10 or something.

I hope that you've enjoyed the chapter and are enjoying the story.

Until next time, goodbye and goodnight.


	4. Rinnegan, PSICOM and Crystal Prisons

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, this is a challenge given to me by N.A.B. 0206

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

Rinnegan, PSICOM and Crystal Prisons

* * *

Naruto and Lightning were staring at each other, standing really close to each other, hugging each other. No, Naruto was just trying to get Lightning to calm down, since Snow managed to piss her off again, something that he had always managed to do somehow. But right now, Naruto was trying to calm down Lightning, while Konan slammed a paper mallet across Snow's head, causing him to yell out in pain, before he started holding his head as a bump appeared. Sazh and Hope were watching this with deadpanned expressions, while Vanille was humming around cheerfully, avoiding all the trouble that was happening at the moment.

"Anyone else feels a bit uncomfortable?" Sazh asked, feeling a little nervous.

"Yea," Hope nodded. "I think that they will sort it out soon, since Naruto and Konan are they calming them down."

"Are you sure?" Sazh asked, just as Naruto suddenly got punched in the face by a very pissed off Lightning, making them wonder just what he had said.

"Not as much anymore." Hope admitted with a sweat drop, before Vanille suddenly looked at them, with a worried expression.

"Why is everyone fighting?" Vanille asked cutely. "We have to be more worried about finding out what our Focus is!"

"The little lady does have a point." Sazh admitted. "We do need to find out what our Focus is, or else we become Cie'th, something that I don't want to become thank you very much."

"I think Naruto's having fun," Hope pointed out, when the younger blond pulled Lightning down with him, laughing as he did so, it soon turned out to be playful wrestling in Naruto's eyes and a struggle to get free in Lightning's.

"That boy thinks everything fun so far." Sazh deadpanned.

"I think that what makes Naruto so cute." Vanille admitted, causing both of the males to turn to her.

"You serious?" Sazh asked in disbelief, wondering just what had made her see the blond in that way, before realizing that he probably didn't want to know. "On second thought, I probably don't want to know." Sazh told the girl just as she was about to start explaining, causing her to pout cutely.

"I want to know what made Naruto so carefree though, there's got to be something." Hope announced, before he walked over to Naruto and Lightning, despite Sazh's warnings, and accidentally got kicked in the face for all of his troubles. Naruto and Lightning stopped their fighting and looked at Hope, who was now holding a bloody nose. "Ow."

"Hope!" Naruto cried as he quickly got to where the young boy was. "Are you alright?" Naruto asked, as he looked at the boy and the blood that was pouring out of his nose.

"No." Hope groaned, only to gasp in pain when Naruto flicked it.

"Naruto, let me see to it." Konan sighed as she made her way to the young boy, before examining the injury that was caused by Naruto and Lightning. The pink haired woman in question was glaring at Snow, who was looking away from him. "Well, despite the pain that you're in, I can tell that it's not broken, just a bit sore and bloody." Konan told Hope.

"You sure?" Hope asked Konan, who shook her head.

"Of course, I had to heal my best friends more times that I can count, it became habit to know how bad the injury was on any part of the body." Konan explained to Hope, who blinked.

"Oh, alright then."

"Sorry about that." Naruto apologized to Hope, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, feeling like he had done something extremely wrong.

"I-it's alright." Hope barely got out, since some blood had found its way into Hope's mouth as he said it. He coughed before he spat the blood that had made its way into his mouth.

"Now I feel really bad." Naruto sighed to himself looking at Lightning before he walked over to her, since she was glaring at Snow, who seemed to be frowning in disapproval at her, due to what had happened to Hope. "Oi! Cut it out, we need to get moving soon!" Naruto ordered the duo. "We want to get to Serah, right? Then don't waste any more time with your pointless fucking fights!" Naruto told them, making Snow and Lightning look at the younger blond. "Besides, what would Serah say?" That got pained expressions from both Snow and Lightning.

"Err, let's go then?" Snow stood up quickly.

"Right." Lightning agreed for the first time since this whole thing started, even then it was barely there.

"Alright Hope, just don't get hit in the face, or your nose will start to bleed again." Konan told the young boy softly.

"Alright," Hope agreed, thinking that Konan was acting like a motherly figure at the moment. Almost made him want to cry, just being reminded of his own mother. Almost. He wanted to prove to Naruto that he could be useful and that he could be strong enough to help him with what he needed to get done, especially if Naruto had any ideas, or even goals to help them out of this mess.

"Konan." Naruto called out the older woman's name out suddenly, making the woman in question looked at him. "How do I activate the Rinnegan?"

"You want to do so now?" Konan asked, sounding a little surprised.

"It can help us survive, even if it meant only for another day, another hour, another minute, another second." Naruto told Konan as he walked up to her. "We need everything right now and you're the one who knows all about the eyes that Nagato gave me, I want to ... I need to know how I can activate them!" Naruto told the older woman, who looked at him, almost sadly, almost as if he had was acting like one of her best friends again or something. Which made Naruto remember that he was like her friend called Yahiko, who had the personality that was almost a mirror image of his own, oh, right.

"You need to focus Chakra into your eyes." Konan told Naruto, who blinked before looking really annoyed.

"Wait? That's it? That was all I had to do?" Naruto asked in disbelief, it was so simple!

"Yes, and unlike Nagato, you seem to have the option to turn your eyes on and off." Konan told the boy, who looked surprised by the fact that the other man couldn't turn the eyes off.

"What are you two on about?" Hope asked, sounding confused, making the two ninja remember that Hope was in fact still there, as was everyone else, meaning that they had heard what Naruto and Konan had said, they both looked a little embarrassed by that.

"A gift that Naruto gained from Nagato, before Nagato died." Konan explained, not seeing any point in hiding the truth from them.

"Yea, not like I asked for it or anything though." Naruto admitted, only to get hit around the back of the head by Konan, who glared at the young boy. "What! Am I not allowed to tell the truth now!"

"If it insults Nagato, then no." Konan told the boy, who turned away angrily, before he started to focus Chakra into his eyes. Konan watched carefully, ready to stop him if he was pushing too much Chakra into his eyes, so he didn't accidentally blow his eyeballs out suddenly. That was the last thing that they needed to worry about and they both knew it, but yet when Naruto turned to her next, his eyes now had the Rinnegan activated, making the older woman feel pleased that her young charge had succeed in his task. To Konan, this was a final mission that Nagato had given to her, one that she would do anything to succeed; she would work together with Naruto and the others to save the world, like Nagato had requested that she and Naruto to do. Naruto, she knew had no problem with saving the world, in fact, he would properly get a thrill rush as if he had been injected several drugs to get him pumped up, mostly because Naruto took pleasure in saving people. To Naruto saving some people here and there was like giving a drug addict some more drugs, he simply couldn't get enough of saving people, he was proving that he was good at what he could do.

"Okay, that feels weird." Naruto admitted, while everyone but Konan looked surprised when they looked at Naruto's eyes. "Now what?"

"Point at one of those Cie'th that's coming round the corner." Konan instructed, making everyone turn and get into a fighting stance after they looked to where a couple of Cie'th were coming towards them, Naruto merely pointed at them. "Now released a pulse of Chakra and aim it towards them." Konan told the young boy, who followed the blue haired woman's orders, causing the two Cie'th to be sent flying into the crystal, embedding them into it, before they fell apart. By this point, everyone but Konan was looking in awe, even Naruto. "You can control all of Nagato's techniques that you saw used against your village before we came here, we'll be going through one at a time.

"Okay ..." Naruto nodded slowly, very aware that the others were giving him and Konan looks, Hope looked like he had started to admire him even more, Lightning was watching him with interest, as if assessing his ability to see whether or not he would be worth keeping him around or not. Snow seemed to be giving him a look that said 'You've got my full support! Don't let me down.' Vanille seemed to be giving him a look if pity, while Sazh looked like he was doing the same as Vanille. Strangely enough that didn't seem to be asking him any questions about his ability, something that surprised not only Naruto, but Konan as well. They had been clearly expecting something to have happened, demands for explanations or something like that, but yet they weren't getting anything like that, nothing at all. "So, how do I turn it off?"

* * *

Deep within the stomach of Naruto Uzumaki, the nine tailed fox, Kyuubi was watching with interest. Strange that he was watching the events of outside through a TV screen, that didn't show the action from Naruto's eyes, but showed it from a 3rd person's angle, as if he was watching a TV show, or a video game being played out before him. All the fox needed now was something to eat, preferably something that he could chew on, something crunchy, like a human, so he could hear the screams of the human, before he hear the snapping and crunching as he broke the bones with his teeth. That and he wanted a videogame controller and a device to play it on, the fox suddenly sighed however before a chew toy appeared before him suddenly, which he grabbed and started to chew on.

'**Well, at least it's better than those shitty soaps I hear humans complaining about.**" Kyuubi grumbled to himself, as he continued to chew the human sized toy. "**... This better get exciting soon, or else I'll have to show that little bastard images of me peeling his skin off with a demon sized knife. ... Though I'd probably do that soon anyway. Kukukuku."**

* * *

Cie'th were being destroyed by several people as they ran down to find their way out of the crystallized Lake Bresha, it wasn't the fault of Lightning, Snow, Sazh, Hope, Vanille, Konan or Naruto that they had to get out of here, it was the fault of the people who were hunting them down, or the Cie'th that had been attacking them.

"Oi, Lightning!" Naruto called to the pink haired swordswoman.

"What is it?" Lightning asked the blond.

"If I can get a blade, could you teach me how to use it?" Naruto asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Lightning frowned at him.

"I want to extend my knowledge to every part that I can, I'm sure you understand." Naruto told the woman, who nodded.

"Alright then." Lightning nodded to Naruto. "We can only start when you have a sword of your own, and that we have the time to be able to do such a thing, hopefully that will be soon, because like you said, we need to be strong in every department as soon as possible to survive."

"Glad we can agree on that, makes me glad that we can at least come to some sort of agreement." Naruto told the pink haired woman, who nodded while looking like she really didn't want to be here, but still had no choice but to be here.

"We fight it! Ragnarok!" Snow suddenly announced, after he had pumped his fist in the air, looking extremely determined. "That's the reason we're L'Cie. To stop it, to keep Cocoon safe!"

"Yeah, why don't you give us one reason to believe that? One reason." Sazh asked the taller blond.

"Serah." Snow's answer was simple, but it didn't make anyone impressed, even Naruto was giving Snow a look of disbelief. "She said to protect Cocoon, and then she turned to crystal. That's the proof right there. She completed her Focus! That means ours is to save Cocoon." Snow seemed determined that this was their Focus, though Naruto sighed to himself, while Lightning looked away, seemingly not caring either way. "Serah's Fal'Cie was the same as ours. Our Focus has got to be the same. We were chosen to be guardians, to defeat Ragnarok! It makes sense!"

"The hell it does! You're grasping at straws, son!" Sazh told Snow suddenly. "Pulse Fal'Cie are Cocoon's enemies. We just got recruited by one of them." Sazh paused almost dramatically. "If I was a betting man." Sazh started, walking closer to Snow. "I'd put us on the other side."

"So Serah's an enemy too? Well I don't buy it!" Snow told Sazh.

"Snow, listen to reason here." Naruto interrupted suddenly, not looking like he was confused by anything. "I may not be that knowledgeable about Fal'Cies and all that shit, but from what I can tell, I would say that we were given the task to destroy Cocoon, by using this Ragnarok in the process." Naruto gave his view, which for his credit, was very reasonable considering how long he had been here and how much information he had to store in so little time.

"..." Snow looked at Naruto, before he turned to Lightning, practically ignoring the other blond, who looked upset by the cheap dismissal. "We have the power to save Cocoon. If we work together and carry out our Focus ..." Snow started to tell his fiancée's sister, before he found that he now had a sword at his throat.

"Our Focus?" Lightning demanded, looking more than a bit annoyed. "The Fal'Cie took Serah away from us, and you want to help it?" Lightning asked in disbelief. "Whose side are you on?"

"Freeze!" Someone shouted, causing everyone to look around, only to find that they were surrounded by several men in green armour, the PSICOM. That and they were all pointing guns at them, loads of guns.

"Not on theirs, that's for sure." Naruto pointed out bluntly, causing both Lightning and Snow to glare at him.

"Place your hands behind your heads!" The lead PSICOM ordered, something which Snow, Sazh, Vanille and Hope did almost instantly after being ordered, Lightning looked at her chances, before she dropped her blade to the ground and did the same. Naruto and Konan however, did no such thing, they assessed the situation that they were in, but didn't give any sign that they were going to surrender anytime soon.

"This looks like something fun." Naruto mused with a smirk, while Konan was wearing a frown.

"Feels like Konoha all over again." Konan admitted, making Naruto cringe at her choice of words. "Just a lot less people, but some interesting looking toys."

"Looks like what Sazh used, right?" Naruto asked the older ninja.

"Indeed." Konan agreed.

"If you don't surrender soon, we will be forced to shoot!" The PSICOM leader shouted, growling as the two ninja looked like that they were ignoring him, which they were.

"Forced to shot? Sorry kid, but you're talking to the wrong people about surrendering." Konan told the leader of the group.

"That's right!" Naruto told the soldiers, who were now aiming all of their guns at the two ninjas. "Besides, why don't you try and see IF you can kill us or not?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at the man in green.

"Damn it! Men! Get ready to kill those two; I've had enough of them!" The PSICOM leader shouted as he two pointed his gun towards the ninja. "This will show the order L'Cie that we are not to be messed with!"

"If you really want to." Naruto looked like he didn't have a care in the world, while the others looked like that they were worried, but remembered what Naruto was able to do, since he had managed to avoid being sliced in half by Lightning at the last second after all.

"FIRE!" The PSICOM leader roared, as the men started to fire, only to find that their guns weren't working.

"My gun's not working!"

"Mine's not either!"

"What's wrong with this thing!"

"What the fuck?" The PSICOM leader asked, only to get his answer when all of the guns suddenly fall apart, making the soldiers feel really nervous all of a sudden. Lightning and the others merely get prepared for a fight, and started to slaughter the whole group, who were screaming in panic. It wasn't done until there was one last soldier left, who was on the floor, whimpering in fear, especially when BOTH Naruto and Konan were approaching him.

"S-stay away from me!" The last soldier shouted, only to find himself being lifted up in the air with ease by Konan. Naruto tapped the helmet that he was wearing, before it suddenly fell apart to reveal that there was merely a boy of 18 underneath the mask, and he was emotionally falling apart, tears and all falling. Sazh looked sick at the site that they could have killed a young boy, or young man, Lightning had a tint of surprise at the age of the soldier, while Snow looked at Lightning for a moment, before looking away, Hope and Vanille just didn't know how to express their feelings over the age of the soldier.

"I want to know everything that there is to know about the PSICOM, their plans, their highest ranked members, their numbers, their tactics, how far they will go just to capture us." Konan hissed at the boy, while pinning him to the crystal using her paper, which slowly started to cover the boy from his feet upwards. The boy instantly blurted out everything that he knew, not a lot to be perfectly honest, but it was still better than nothing.

"Konan, are you going to ... kill him?" Naruto asked, sounding hesitant about the whole idea of killing someone again.

"Yes." Konan admitted, before paper suddenly completely covered the young boy, and suffocated him, as quickly as possible, but he still screamed before he was completely covered, a scream that would forever be rooted in the minds of everyone else.

"..." Naruto looked at the now dead boy soldier, before he shivered to himself. "I never get used to killing people, or have a hand in killing people; it never makes me feel good, just sick all the time."

"That's good, then you won't become hungry for more after a while without killing." Konan mused.

"Come on you guys!" Snow suddenly shouted at the two ninjas. "What were you thinking when you killed that your boy in front of Hope like that!" Snow demanded.

"You don't get it." Surprisingly, it was Lightning who answered the question. "It's kill, or be killed, no matter how old the enemy is, they need to die before they can cause more problems."

"I get it, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it or anything." Snow muttered to himself, while Hope seemed to be absorbing the information that he was listening to like a sponge with water.

"If you liked killing, then you would most likely be a monster." Naruto told the older blond. "Besides, I don't think that was Hope's first experience with seeing people die before his eyes anyway." Naruto noted, just by looking at the young boy's eyes.

"I thought that they'd be tougher than this though." Sazh admitted suddenly, about the skill level of the PSICOM troops that they had killed. "These guys are PSICOM, yeah? Supposed to be cream-of-the-crop." Sazh asked Lightning, while making sure that the guy wasn't getting up soon, by waving a hand in front of the face of another soldier.

"Yeah, but PSICOM's an anti-Pulse task force. Haven't fought a war in centuries." Snow admitted. "Bunch of rookie troops swinging around over prices toys."

"So, from what you're telling me, it sounds like a regular old soldier ... has got more training than Special Forces." Sazh asked the other man.

"Nothing for us L'Cie to be afraid of." Snow announced casually, sounding a little cocky.

"Cut the crap." Lightning ordered suddenly. "Their grunts may be green, but PSICOM's elites are cold-blooded beasts. They hit the field and it's game over."

"Thank fuck for that!" Naruto gave a sigh of relief, getting him very strange looks from Snow and Lightning. "What? If these guys were the best that PSICOM had to offer, I really would be worrying about the safety of this place, and if, and I mean a big IF, we were to be the guardians of this place; I would say that this place is well and truly screwed." Naruto admitted.

"Uh-oh! Then lets run away! Ciao!" Vanille interrupted suddenly, before she started to run off, after she had gained Naruto's, Lightning's and Snow's attention.

"Hey, wait!" Sazh called out to the young girl, before his Chocobo chick flew out from his hair and onto the palm of his hand, while the older man sighed. The little chick did a pose while standing on his hand. "What's a man to do?" Sazh asked as he walked off, Snow started to do the same, before he looked back at Lightning, who was trying to ignore him, causing the older blond to sigh, before he left. Konan looked at Naruto.

"I'm going to there to back them up." Konan offered, while Naruto nodded.

"I'll stay with Hope and Lightning." Naruto agreed, something which got Lightning to give him a worried look, clearly not completely comfortable after what had happened last time around something like this had happened. Konan by this point had sped off to catch up with the others, while Hope was looking at Naruto almost expecting something.

"So, what now?" Hope asked, wondering if they were still going to find Serah.

"We're going to find Serah." Naruto told him, before turning to Lightning. "You want to see your sister, right?" Naruto asked the pink haired woman.

"Why wouldn't I?" Lightning asked, before she too started to make her way where the others had gone. Naruto looked at Hope, before shrugging.

"Oh well, at least she's agreeing this time." Naruto muttered to himself, something which caused Lightning to glare at him, somehow hearing this.

"What? I didn't try to pick you up this time!" Naruto complained, as he and a somewhat amused Hope followed the pink haired soldier.

* * *

By the time Naruto and Hope had caught up with the group, they had destroyed a load of Ghast Cie'th and some Wight Cie'th as well, which were either sliced apart, or where blow up into several unrecognisable pieces.

"Looks like someone had a lot of fun." Naruto mused, as he looked at Hope, the young boy was too busy looking at the pieces of the Cie'th, before he looked at the younger of the two blonds there.

"Come on! Let's get to Serah quickly, before something happens to make us not be able to ever see her again!" Snow shouted, before he charged at another bunch of Cie'th that just happened to be nearby. For a moment it looked like that Snow had bitten on more than he could chew, before Naruto suddenly jumped into the battle, kicking and punching several Cie'th away from the older blond, who looked at Naruto with a surprised expression.

"What? If you died because you got too cocky, it would have been a pretty pointless death." Naruto admitted, before he rammed a Rasengan into one of the Cie'th that tried to grab him, causing it to shatter upon impact. "Plus, it will cause morale to drop, something we don't need right now, alright?"

"I see." Snow admitted, generally seeing the logic in Naruto's words, before he realized that the others were starting to fight as well, it made his determination become even stronger. To continue to fight for Cocoon, to fulfil Serah's last wish. After the group had destroyed all of the monsters, they started to go further down the crystallized lake, Naruto a bit curious.

"Hey, you guys." Naruto asked, causing the others to look at him.

"What is it?" Konan asked for the group.

"When we got marked by the Fal'Cie, do you think we got more than a bit of strength?" Naruto asked the group, who all looked thoughtful, even Lightning at this point. "I've got to ask, do you think we got some other magical powers as well? Since Hope did say that we got magic, does that mean that we got magic spells as well?"

"I think we do." Hope admitted shyly, while the others were curious were now wondering what magic spells that they could use.

"Alright then, Snow. Try to use a spell, like Blizzard, since it's near your name and all." Naruto offered to the older blond, who blinked before shrugging, why not? Not like that they had anything to lose at the moment.

"Blizzard!" Snow shouted suddenly, pointing his hand out, before much to his surprise, an icy beam shot out and hit the crystal, before some ice froze over it. "Wow, it actually worked.

"Cool, now Lightning!" Naruto call the young woman, who looked at him. "Try to use, Thunder or something?"

"Why not." Lightning shrugged, figuring that since Snow was about to use Blizzard, so could use something as well. "Thunder!" Lightning shouted suddenly, before a beam of lightning came from the sky and smashed the ice that Snow had made. "So we can use magic, what now?"

"Simple, we find out the spells for everyone else." Naruto admitted, before he started to focus. "We have to be able to find something that tells us what spell we can use and how it can be done, nothing too hard, unless you don't want to find out."

"I found my spell." Konan told Naruto straight away, having copied what he was doing. "Water." Konan uttered suddenly, causing a beam of water to hit where the ice had been beforehand.

"I found mine too." Sazh admitted suddenly. "Fire!" Both Sazh AND Hope shouted at the same time, sending a small fireball together, at where Snow had sent his attack.

"Aero!" Vanille and Naruto shouted at the same time suddenly, mixing in with the fire spell, causing an explosion to be heard, Vanille looked on in surprise, while Naruto looked and Konan and they grinned at each other.

"This will be found to experiment with." Naruto admitted with a grin.

"Water!" Lightning shouted out suddenly, sending out a beam of water, much to everyone's surprise. "... I have two."

"Which means that everyone might have two spells as well." Naruto and Konan mused together.

"Alright, let's see if we have two spells then." Konan ordered the others, who except for Lightning nodded, as she had already found she had two spells.

"Blizzard!" Hope shouted suddenly, as he shot a beam of ice.

"Aero!" Vanille chanted cheerfully shooting a beam of wind.

"..." Sazh and Snow looked a little sheepish at this point since they didn't have a second spell.

"Fire!" Konan uttered suddenly, unleashing a beam of fire.

"Thunder!" Naruto shouted as another beam of lightning came from the sky.

"That's enough for now." Konan ordered, before they moved on.

* * *

"Who else heard that explosion?" A PSICOM soldier asked, looking at his comrades.

"I saw some lightning strikes." Another one noted.

"Really? I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw that?" The one next to him admitted.

"You think it was the L'Cie?"

"Who knows?"

"Not really."

"..."

"..."

"Who needs to take a piss before we go?"

* * *

Lightning blinked before she rubbed her ears, wondering if she was hearing correctly at the moment.

"Can, anyone else here that croaking?" Lightning asked cautiously, slowly getting into a fighting stance.

"Yea." Naruto nodded while he and Konan got into a fighting stance, getting ready for a fight, which the others followed quickly. Suddenly a load of four legged creatures jumped down from above, trying to ambush them, but one of them found itself being sliced in half by Lightning, while another one, found itself being punched by Snow, who was using the cold ice of Blizzard to power his punches, causing some ice damage, the Froststrike. The move caused the creature that was hit to be completely frozen. Sazh seemed to be taking the same idea, since his bullets were somehow powered by flames, causing the creatures that were hit to be extremely burnt, screaming as it did so. Sazh looked surprised before he realized that all of the Bresha Bass had been killed.

"What are you doing?" Snow asked Naruto and Konan, as the two of them started to gather up the new dead frogfish combination.

"We're gathering up dinner." Konan answered, causing the blond to look slightly sick.

"We are not eating those things." Snow shot down quickly.

"Why not? It's better than starving to death, and look at it this way." Naruto explained. "We have a chance to see whether or not they're poisonous and/or taste good or bad by using my clones."

"I agree with them on this one." Lightning gave her opinion on the matter, making Snow look at her surprised. "I'm not agreeing with them because I hate you, which I already do, but I agreeing with them, because it's logical and Naruto has the perfect way to test whether or not we'd be killed by eating them or not."

"You're used to eating stuff like this, I somehow don't think that Vanille or Hope are used to doing such a thing, and I don't think that Sazh is either." Snow told them.

"Actually, I had to do so at one point, it's why I had my guns on me, in case I ran into trouble for a second time, just never thought that it would be this big." Sazh admitted suddenly, causing Snow to look surprised at him.

"Just continue what you're doing, Naruto, Konan, even if Vanille or Hope disagree it would still be 4-3, so we'd be doing this anyway." Lightning told the two ninjas, who had finished gathering them up, and then sealed them away in scrolls. "What are you doing?"

"Storing them away." Naruto explained.

"In case we get separated at some point, we'd be able to split them evenly between the two groups." Konan continued the explanation.

"..." Lightning stared at them for a long moment. "Good." She suddenly started to walk away. After a moment more, Naruto turned to Konan.

"You think we're getting on her good side?" Naruto asked the blue haired woman, who looked at Naruto.

"I probably am, you're mostly likely on her bad side after your incidents with her early on." Konan pointed out, reminding Naruto of what he had done before hand. Further down the path, going across a crystal bridge, which was amazingly placed, Sazh sighed to himself.

"It's not right. Why'd kids have to get dragged into this?" Sazh asked, while Naruto turned to Sazh, eyebrow twitching.

"I'll keep the kids out of trouble." Snow offered, looking and sounding really confident with himself. Sazh laughed to himself, and patted the man on the shoulder.

"The problem with that is, you're one of them." Sazh told the older blond.

"Hey." Snow looked a bit insulted by that comment.

"I'm not a kid as well, am I?" Naruto asked, making Sazh told to the younger blond.

"No, you're surprisingly smart and mature for your age, and look like you've had some experience with stuff like this." Sazh admitted, something which made Snow look annoyed.

"Yep, 4 whole years of it." Naruto admitted, causing the three older non-ninja members of the group to look at him with a surprised expression. "Which is still going on, and before you ask, I'm not telling you anything about it, even if you beg me to. It'll be a while before I do anything of the sort."

"Alright then." Sazh sighed. "Well, trying to take out the Pulse Fal'Cie, that was our first mistake. Should have left it to the Sanctum." Vanille suddenly called out to them to come on and hurry up, while waving her arm at them, before she suddenly grabbed Hope's wrist and got him to do the same as well. Naruto seemed to take this as an invitation and run towards them, before skidding to a halt in front of them, laughing as he did so, something that made Vanille laugh as well. "Why not? I mean we've counted on the Sanctum's Fal'Cie for food, water, everything we've needed since the time we were born." Sazh admitted, while Snow was wondering about made Naruto more mature than he was, even if he was making Hope smile a bit.

"But you still helped us do it. Why's that? Gotta be something." Snow pointed out, before asking the older man.

"There might've been. Not so sure anymore." Sazh admitted, before he walked off to followed the three younger members of the group, while Snow sighed before he followed the oldest. Konan and Lightning looked at each other.

"You know, if you want some advice you can just ask, even if it's about Naruto." Konan offered to Lightning, who blinked before giving the woman a strange look.

"I think about it." Lightning admitted, before they started to follow the group as well.

"I've had almost 30 years of experience when it's come to fighting, so if you need some advice on that, you can ask as well." Konan gave the category of what she might have been able to talk about to Lightning, who looked surprised as she had been wondering if she was able to do so or not.

"I'll talk to you later about it." Lightning admitted, a tint of interest reaching her face.

"As you wish."

* * *

Naruto had his Rinnegan activated as he looked at the group of Pantheron in front of him that they were growling at him, behind the boy, Hope and Vanille stood in battle stances and with their weapons in hand. Naruto stuck out his hand in front of him suddenly, trying an experiment.

"You are going to fall under my command." Naruto uttered suddenly, his eyes looking like hypnotising wheels, before slowly but surely one of the dog like creatures blinked before getting the same eyes and turning on its brethren and slashing out the throat of the newest one, much to its surprise. The two Pantheron then started to battle each other, until in the end they killed each other, something which caused Naruto to sigh. "Not good enough yet, not enough to get to Nagato's level anyway." Naruto muttered to himself.

"W-what did you manage to do?" Vanille asked her expression one of shock.

"An experiment, one that failed I'm afraid to say." Naruto admitted, his eyes back to their normal blue by the time he looked at Vanille. "My eyes feel sore though, so I'm not gonna try that out for a while."

"Surprised that you even tried it without me here." Konan could be heard, as she, Snow, Sazh and Lightning came down together. "You should have waited."

"But I had the perfect opportunity to try it out!" Naruto complained. "It's not like I failed or anything, just used a creature that was too weak."

"Yes, but you need to wait until I'm around before you try something like that again." Konan told the young blond, who looked a little disappointed with himself.

"Alright." Naruto frowned, but nodded all the same, while Snow, Sazh and Lightning looked confused by the whole situation. Though Vanille and Hope didn't say anything about it, even when they were questioned by the other adults, they still didn't tell them anything.

* * *

After destroying another group of Pantheron and a group of PSICOM the group were now at a metal ramp strangely enough, something one of the pieces of metal that had fallen with the Vestige was acting as a ramp for the group to go down. Lightning looked across to her right, before she spotted something, something that stood out quite a bit. It was the crystallized form of Serah, embedded into the crystallized sea.

"Serah." Lightning whispered to herself after she had paused in her footsteps, seeing her little sister like this was just hard for the young woman to take.

"Serah!" Snow shouted as he ran towards his fiancée's location, kneeling down as he got there. "Serah! I'll get you out of there!" Snow told his frozen fiancée after grabbing her hand, before he went over and grabbed some piece of metal and started trying to dig her out of her prison. Vanille then ran over with a piece of metal in her hand.

"I'll help you." Vanille told the blond, before she started to try and dig her out of her prison as well.

"Thanks!" Snow appreciated what the young girl was doing, as he continued in his valiant effort. Sazh was soon besides Snow, before he too had a piece of metal and was trying to dig the young girl out. Naruto looked on, before he charged in and started to claw into the crystal with his now sharp claws, scratching at the surface. Lightning, Konan and Hope watched on, but in Lightning's eyes, the four trying to dig Serah out disappeared in a bright light and only the two sisters there, one imprisoned, the other staring helplessly. Lightning looked away in angst.

"This is goodbye." Lightning uttered, barely able to look at her sister, the little girl that she had failed to protect. Lightning turned to leave, much to Konan's and Hope's surprise, Snow turned to see that she was leaving as well.

"Lightning!" Snow called out to the woman. "You're just gonna leave her?"

"PSICOM will be here soon." Lightning told him. "If they find us, we're all dead. You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels?"

"If I leave her, then I'll never know. We'll be fine. I can handle anything they throw at us." Snow told Lightning. "No one will die. I'll protect Serah. And Cocoon!"

Something in what Snow had said made Lightning freeze, before she turned to Snow, her eyes widening in anger and she stormed up to where the taller was. Suddenly she punched him across the face, sending down into the ground, sending Sazh down with him, due to the fact the Snow had collided with the older man.

"Does she look protected to you?" Lightning asked angrily, before the blond stood up.

"I can save her!" Snow told her, before he was punched in the face again, sending him down into Sazh again.

"What can you possibly do?" Lightning demanded angrily.

"Whatever it takes!" Snow shouted at the pink haired woman, causing her to feel mixed emotions on the situation, while Sazh suddenly stood up.

"You want to make sure that nothing on her breaks?" Naruto asked suddenly, causing Snow and Lightning to look at him angrily. "Think about it, she's crystal right? If she gets damaged and she does come back out of that state, whatever was damage in her crystallized state, will be damaged in her real state." Naruto told them. "If she had a crack on her cheek, then that would remain there for the rest of her life, if she lost a finger it would never be reattached." Naruto explained what he meant, something which caused both Snow and Lightning to pale. "So what if something worse happened, something that could kill her, what if ..."

"Don't say it!" Snow shouted, as he suddenly punched him in the face, but only causing his head to the sent to the side, before he was suddenly punched in the face by an angry Lightning this time, something which sent him to the ground. But she wasn't finished there, she was suddenly straddling him, and started to continuously punch the boy in the face, not showing any signs of stopping.

"Don't. You. Dare. Even. Finish. That. Sentence!" Lightning shouted at the blond, who merely chuckled, even when blood was pouring from his lips. Even though blood was pouring from his lips, he still managed to give off a smile.

"That's good. You really do care for your sister, I was starting to get worried about that for a moment." Naruto admitted softly, causing Lightning's eyes to widen in shock. "I envy you, I really do, just to be able to say you have a family that you could rely on, or to even have someone to look up to you. I never had that, until I became a soldier at the age of 12, and by then, I could never go back to my childhood and try to relive it." Naruto admitted, still not caring that he was practically vomiting blood now. "Did you have a nice childhood with your sister, Lightning?"

"That's enough Naruto, I think they got the message by now." Konan told the blond haired boy, who looked at Konan, before he looked straight into the eyes of Lightning, who was looking down at the boy she was straddling in shock, unable to believe what he was saying, not even knowing why he had said it.

"You might want to get off me now." Naruto told Lightning, who quickly did so, and stood off to the side, wondering what Naruto was doing, and why he had said what he had.

"Those kids, that's pretty bad." Sazh sighed to himself, as he and Konan stood together. "Lightning wants to stay as much as Snow does."

"But Naruto is jealous of the fact that Lightning had someone to live through her childhood with, he's jealous because she's got Serah." Konan added, looking at the blond, who was still lying on the ground with Hope checking to see whether or not he would be okay, while Snow and Vanille had gone back to trying to dig Serah out. Lightning meanwhile was looking thoughtful. Back with Sazh and Konan, they suddenly saw they there was a light being shined on them, causing them to look up to find that there was a machine looking down upon them. The machine's long tail was high above the ground, looking like Sasori's tail, something that would make Naruto get pissed off.

"Whoa, whoa! No ... No! No, no, no, not now!" Sazh shouted, getting everyone's attention, causing them all to get ready for a fight as Lightning charged to where Sazh and Konan were, while Naruto suddenly jumped to his feet. The machine suddenly made its way down, blocking their way back to Serah, much to the anger of Snow and Lightning, while Naruto had managed to get Hope away from there.

"Stand back!" Snow told Sazh and Konan as he got ready to fight the machine before them, along with Lightning, Vanille and Naruto. The machine, which was called the Manasvin Warmech, suddenly opened up its panel front to reveal that it had a beam inside that was powering up, until Naruto threw a kunai into it, forcing the attack to stop for the time being. Naruto, Lightning and Snow charged at the machine, while Vanille stayed back to shot her spells at the machine, Snow meanwhile started to using his Froststrike, while Lightning used her blade to do the business on her side, and Naruto used some Thunder spell, while Vanille used a Aero spell to cause an explosion on the side of the machine when the two spells collided, something that only made it thrash about for a bit, making Naruto's eyes narrow in annoyance.

"Konan! I'm gonna need you, Hope Sazh to do some Fire spells when Vanille and I used our Aero spells!" Naruto requested loudly, making Sazh's and Hope's eyes widen in surprise at the announcement.

"As you wish." Konan told the blond, before turning to the two males. "Just be prepared."

"Alright." They both nodded, just as the Manasvin Warmech started to whip its tail and throw several crystals at the group fighting it, making Lightning and Snow rolled out of the way, while Naruto pulled Vanille out of the line of the attack just at the last second, causing the girl to squeak in surprise.

"Vanille, we need to cast an Aero spell at that machine to win, you saw what happened earlier on when we used our Aero spells on those fireballs right?" Naruto asked Vanille, who nodded quickly. "Well we need to do that again, only to destroy this machine, you know what to do now?"

"Yep!" Vanille chirped happily, before squealing as she was once again pull out of the line of fire by Naruto.

"Cast it now!" Naruto ordered, as he pointed his hand at the machine, just as it started to open its panel. "AERO!"

"Aero!" Vanille shouted, as two tornados of wind started to circle around the power of the beam inside.

"Now! Fire!" Konan shouted, as she shot off her spell.

"Fire!" Sazh and Hope shouted as they shot off their spells at the wind, which collided, causing a massive explosion, making everyone's eyes to widen in shock at just how big it was, especially Lightning's and Snow's, since they had no idea of the plan beforehand. The cloud cleared to reveal a mangled up Manasvin Warmech, which literally fell apart before their very eyes. The group then turned to the Crystallized Serah, before Lightning started to walk off, only to find Snow in her way.

"You're leaving?" Snow asked, sounding upset.

"We want to help Serah too." Sazh told the blond haired man, before he sighed. "But without tools ... we could be digging for days. The army's on our trail. For now, we've got to keep moving. For now."

"So I just abandon her, and save myself!" Snow snapped angrily.

"What about your Focus?" Lightning asked suddenly, making Snow stop in his tracks and look at her. "What happened to banding together and saving the world? Isn't that what you promised? Now you want to forget all about it and die right here?"

"..." Snow didn't say anything to respond to what Lightning had just said.

"Snow? You're nothing but talk." Lightning told the man before she started to leave.

"Lightning!" Snow called out to her, clenching his fist. "I'll do whatever it takes. I'll finish this Focus ... and keep Serah safe." Snow told Lightning, Naruto's words about her getting damaged came back to mind. "That's my promise."

"Great job so far." Lightning told him sarcastically, before she continued onwards. Sazh was next, but he sighed before doing anything.

"Stay out of trouble." Snow told him.

"You too." Sazh told Snow, shaking his shoulder for a little bit before he moved on to follow Lightning. Konan was next up.

"Keep your determination, it'll take you as far as you want it to." Konan told Snow, before she left.

"Yea." Snow sighed, before he looked down at Vanille, Hope and Naruto. "Get going." Vanille looked at Hope for a moment, before she started to leave as well, leaving Naruto and Hope still in front of Snow. "Later."

"Okay." Vanille nodded, before she was past him and started to run off. Hope was about to run past, but paused and stood in front of Snow once more, causing the older blond to look surprised.

"Snow ..." Hope started.

"Save it for next time, kiddo." Snow told him. "You'll be left behind."

"But ..." Hope tried once more.

"It's okay, Hope. Light will take care of you." Snow reassured the boy. "We'll meet again." Snow grinned.

"Yeah. Count on it." Hope told Snow, leaving him with just Naruto.

"What about you? I don't expect you to be staying with me." Snow told Naruto, who shook his head.

"No, I'm not staying, well, not personally anyway." Naruto admitted.

"What do you mean?" Snow asked, before his jaw dropped slightly when Naruto created 10 Shadow Clones.

"That's what I mean." Naruto told Snow. "I'll see you around, hope you have some luck getting Serah out."

"..." Snow looked shocked. "Thanks man."

"No worries, we'll meet again, I'm sure of that." Naruto told Snow as he left, only to find the Hope had been watching them as well, while Snow and the Shadow Clones started trying to get Serah out. "Let's go Hope, we don't want to be left behind."

"..." Hope nodded, before they left Snow behind. "Count on it, Snow. Count on it." Hope muttered to himself as they continued on.

* * *

Alright, chapter 4 is up! I have to say this is not only the longest chapter in the story, but the longest chapter that I have ever written, fullstop.

Also important news! I will NOT be using Kyuubi as a summon, I repeat, I will NOT be using Kyuubi as a summon! This due to so many people asking me not to do it. So sorry to people who asked for me to have it done.

Anyway, here are the polls for the Summons for Naruto so far.

* * *

Gilgamesh (16)

Ifrit (6)

Fenrir (6)

Leviathan (4)

Knights of the Round (4)

Magnus Sisters (3)

Zodiark (3)

Griever (3)

Diabolos (3)

Eden (3)

I'm only showing the summons that have 3 or more votes, so you don't get confused about why there isn't any more summons in this list.

* * *

And for Konan

Siren (6)

Eden (4)

Carbuncle (4)

Diabolos (3)

Leviathan (3)

Ultima (3)

Slyph (2)

Asura (2)

* * *

The polls for the summons are closing in the next chapter!

Here are the pairings so far.

Naruto x Lightning

Sazh x Konan

Snow x Serah

There can be some more pairings as well, someone asked me if I could do a Hope x Vanille pairing as well, which I will do if that gets 20 votes for it.

Any other pairing that you want to see, just let me know, cause I even had a request for a Sasuke x Fang.

Anyway, until next time, goodbye and goodnight.


	5. The Net

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, this is a challenge given to me by N.A.B. 0206

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

The Net

* * *

The group of six were now charging on looking to get a head start on the army that was bound to catch up with them eventually, but it didn't mean that all of them had wanted to leave Snow behind.

"Maybe we shouldn't have left Snow behind." Vanille admitted her concerns about what they had done, while Naruto shook his head.

"Don't worry too much about it Vanille, I left behind some clones with Snow, so if they go out, I'll know what has happened back there." Naruto tried to reassure the young girl, who happened to be older than him.

"But." Vanille didn't seem convinced by what the young blond had told her.

"Trust me, it's like that's a whole group of us watching over him, so don't worry too much, alright?" Naruto told the girl.

"We need you to stay strong as well, not just because we need you at your best, but we need you to help Hope keep a reason through this, to help him like Naruto is trying to do for both of you." Konan told the girl suddenly, causing her to look surprised.

"You serious?" Vanille asked, looking surprised.

"Absolutely, not everyone has what they want all the time." Konan told the girl in almost a motherly kind of way, while Naruto looked at the older woman with a deadpanned expression wondering why he felt like she was trying to tell him that he should be better behaved or something. Lightning was watching the older woman as well, almost allowing a smirk to grace her lips as she catch the hidden meaning of Konan's words, Sazh meanwhile was keeping an eye on Hope, who looked like he was calculating something, thinking of a plan of some sorts.

"What are you doing Hope?" Naruto asked cheerfully as he wrapped an arm around the shoulders of the younger and the shyer boy, causing him to scream and jump in surprise at the sudden invasion of his personal space.

"C-could you not do that, please?" Hope asked Naruto who blinked, before scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Yea, sorry about that man." Naruto answered the boy, who sighed.

"Thank you." Hope told the older boy, who pouted suddenly.

"Naruto, come here for a bit." Sazh called over the young blond, who blinked before he made his way over to the oldest member of their group. "I have a question for you."

"Alright then, fire away." Naruto told the old man.

"Why do you torment Lightning so much?" Sazh asked the blond quietly, causing the boy to blink and give him a strange look. "No, seriously, why do you do it?"

"I personally thought that she needed to lighten up, I mean she acts all serious and all of that." Naruto told Sazh who raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm serious. I have loads of friends who used be stiffs like her, all cold and serious but I managed to break through to all of them and everything! Much like I'm going to do to her when we become friends, because I'm good at it." Naruto admitted, causing Sazh's jaw to drop at the announcement, while Lightning having heard the last of what Naruto said snorted almost in amusement. The way that he was approaching her at the moment wasn't working, and unless he changed his approach, it wasn't going to work anytime soon.

"Looks like we have something else to kill." Hope announced suddenly, making everyone turn to find the four legged fish-frogs jumping in their direction, their long tails whipping about as they jumped towards the group. Lightning sliced one of them in half, causing blood and guts to be sent flying, while Naruto stabbed his one in the head and Konan choked her one with paper, smothering the creature as paper made its way off of her to cover the creature completely. Sazh merely shot his a few times, while Vanille whipped hers from the air and slammed it to the ground, Hope meanwhile had sent the one charging at him into the abyss below, clawing in midair as it try in vain to grab onto the side of the place that it had been sent flying off of. Naruto looked down at where the creature had been sent flying down, and then cringed when he saw the pizza that it had made when it finally hit the floor below.

"I think you made a bit of a mess with yours Hope, something I only expected Lightning to do." Naruto admitted as Hope looked down as well, only to blink in surprise when he saw the mess that he had caused down below.

"Oops?" Hope didn't really know what to say.

"What do you mean that you only expected Lightning to do!" Lightning demanded, causing Naruto to point at what she had done with the creature that had attacked her.

"Does that prove my point?" Naruto asked the pink haired swordswoman with a deadpanned expression.

"Just a one-off thing." Lightning told the blond.

"You keep saying that, just like you deny the fact that you actually like me." Naruto dismissed, causing the swordswoman's eyebrow to twitch. "Seriously though, don't make too much of a mess with your enemies, not everyone is used to that sort of thing, plus we don't want to show the army where we've been, or give them the impression that we're bloodthirsty monsters."

"I can see your point already! Can we just continue on?" Lightning asked impatiently, causing Naruto to sigh, realizing that he was at one point like Lightning, just less moody. So why could he picture Sasuke holding up a sign saying 'I told you so' with a damnable smirk on his face? Naruto knew that he had some issues that he needed to sort out sooner or later.

"Naruto!" Vanille called out to the blond, making him blink, only to realize that he was being left behind. "We don't want to leave you behind either!"

"I'm coming Vanille, I'm coming." Naruto told the girl before he sped after her and the rest of the group.

* * *

By the time that Naruto and Vanille had caught up with the others they had encountered some 'doggies' as Naruto like to call them these days, they didn't last very long though, just a few slashes from Lightning's gunblade, a Fire spell from Sazh, and a water spell from Konan, Hope only needed to do a Fire spell and they were done quickly and swiftly.

"You're starting to get good at this Hope." Naruto told the young boy, who blushed under the praise and the fact that he was getting his head rubbed. "I bet that one day you'll be looked up to in awe by people even in my homeland!" Naruto told the boy with a wide grin, causing Hope's eyes to widen, wondering what the whiskered boy had meant by his words.

"I don't want to hear about anything that has to do with your homeland, Naruto." Lightning told the blond from her position, glaring at the blond, who sweat dropped slightly, wondering what her problem was.

"Maybe it's because you told her that her just how her sister might be killed." Konan told Naruto, who looked annoyed with himself for pissing off the girl by saying such a thing about her sister, even if it was true, he knew that she most likely wouldn't have wanted to even think about such a possibility. He did he open his big mouth sometimes, he'd never know.

"How do we get across that ... really deep ... drop ..." Hope started, only to get more and more paler as he continued his question, wondering why he didn't feel so good anymore.

"Well, there is that bridge over there." Lightning pointed out, pointed at a piece of metal that just happened to be by the gap, and seemed to be crossing over to the other side. Naruto and Konan looked at it, before Naruto suddenly stepped on the metal ramp to test it out, he paused.

"It's really stable!" Naruto shouted, causing the non-ninjas to look surprised by this fact. "Even a civilian could get across this with ease." Naruto told them, as he ran across to the other side without any difficulty. Konan then decided to follow after him quickly, causing Lightning to frown, before she too decided to make her way across, slowly at first, before she ran across the tube-bridge as Naruto was calling it. Vanille suddenly ran across it was well, with Sazh and Hope following behind, both looking a bit uneasy about the whole thing. They all got over the bridge safely in the end only to get attacked by some Bloodfang Bass and Breshan Bass, which all got destroyed by Sazh's Fire spells and Lightning's Blitz attack, Vanille's Aero spells, Hope's Blizzard spells, while Naruto and Konan used their kunai to finish the rest of them off. The group had turned the corner and now stared at their latest problem, the crystallized wall that was standing in their way.

"So ... what are we going to do to get past that?" Naruto asked. "And before you ask, my Rasengan isn't strong enough to reach through that crystal and even if I did, I don't want to have to dodge the falling wall of crystal just to stay alive, thank you very much." Naruto told the group, crossing his arms with an annoyed expression on his face. Lightning looked up to what appeared to be some kind of gun.

"Looks operational." Lightning mused before she jumped up and hit the gun of the machine with had blade, causing several bullets to be fired and the crystal wall to collapse, making Naruto's jaw dropped, as well as Konan's, since they had no idea that there was a machine that could do that, especially since when they normally had to do things by hand. The only downside of what Lightning had done was the fact that there was several Bloodfang Basses and Breshan Basses coming out of their hiding places, Naruto turned to the woman with a surprised look.

"When you teach me how to you a sword, can you teach me about technology as well?" Naruto asked quickly, causing Lightning to sweat-drop, after hearing that the blond and from the looks of things, Konan didn't know that much about the technology around here.

"Fine." Lightning agreed. "But you better pay attention, because I'm not going to tell you twice."

"Sure." Naruto nodded. "Would you answer any question that I have as well then?"

"If you stay on my good side, then yes." Lightning told the blond, who sweat-dropped when he realized that he wasn't on her good side at the moment.

"Am I on your ..." Naruto started only to stop when Lightning glared at him. "Guess not." Naruto pouted before he turned to Hope with a bright smile. "You'll answer any question that I have, won't you Hope?"

"If it helps you, then yes." Hope agreed sounding a little eager to help out the blond, who he was starting to look up to.

"I'll help too!" Vanille called out to Naruto, smiling brightly at both Naruto and Konan.

"I better help out too, since you may need someone with more experience than the rest of the kids." Sazh told the blond, who turned to Lightning, sticking his tongue out childishly at him. Lightning's eyebrow twitched dangerously as she stormed angrily towards the Bass on the bridge.

"She's just being stubborn." Naruto sighed to himself.

"Maybe you should stop trying to piss her off all the time." Konan offered, causing Naruto to gap at the blue haired woman.

"What makes you think ..." Naruto started, only to stop at the look that he got from the woman. "Alright, I am, but she is just being stubborn at the moment!"

"With someone like you, it's hard not to." Konan told the blond, as they watched Lightning get help from Sazh, Vanille and Hope with killing the Bass.

"So needs to stop being so serious though!" Naruto complained.

"You need to stop being a pain in the ass." Konan told the boy, who sighed to himself.

"Maybe I should." Naruto admitted, before he realized that all of the Bass were dead. "But I can't exactly beat the shit out of her, like I did with Neji and Gaara though, and Sasuke was too into power to care about friendships, so how could I get her to be my friend? Or at least think me as a friend?"

"Do something that makes her acknowledge you." Konan told the blond as she started to walk off to the group. "Or just try to make her feel appreciate and/or point out something that she needs to know."

"..." Naruto didn't reply, he only stared at where Konan had walked off to the group, while Vanille was waving for him to come over to him again. He smiled to himself, maybe, he just had to be himself, and finally rip away the mask that he had worn for so long, just to get some attention from the villagers. Naruto suddenly allowed his hyperactive personality to simply fade away.

* * *

It roared loudly at them, looking ready to strike. That was what the group of L'Cie knew when they looked at the Alpha Behemoth as it snarled at them, they knew its name thanks to a quick Libra spell, telling them its strengths and weaknesses. The Behemoth charged at them aiming to slash at them, only for everyone to dodge its attack, Lightning then attempted to slice into its skin with her gunblade, only for the creature to roar before swatting her away like a fly.

"Lightning!" Vanille cried out, before she chanted a spell. "Aero!" A burst of wind was suddenly launched at the Behemoth, causing it to grunt in pain, while Sazh shot off a Fire spell sending the ball of fire into the Behemoth's side, causing a cry of pain to be heard. Hope aimed a Blizzard at the creature, only for the beast to dodge it and slash at the boy, causing him to gasp in pain as he got sent flying with a massive claw mark across his chest.

"Hope!" Sazh shouted, sounding surprised, only to have to dodge the creature's attack.

"Cure!" Vanille was heard crying out, as a beam of green light as shot at the boy, suddenly curing him of all of his wounds, much to his surprised. "Cure!" Lightning found herself being cured next, and pointed towards the Behemoth.

"Thunder!" Lightning cried, as a beam of thunder shot down from the sky slamming onto the Behemoth's back, causing another grunt.

"Water!" Konan shouted as a ball of water was suddenly shot into the Behemoth, causing it to cry out in pain. Lightning charged at the Behemoth, only for the monster to trap her underneath its claw, and was about to rip her head off when it paused. Lightning's eyes were wide in shock at the situation she was in, but even more so when Naruto suddenly appeared before her and literally swapped her with one of his clones. Suddenly the Alpha Behemoth let out an incredible roar of pain, before it fell apart, causing the pink haired woman to look at the blond.

"What ... did you do?" Lightning could only utter, when she caught a hint of a giant Shuriken around a Rasengan slammed into a nearby crystallized cliff, causing it to collapse on itself, making Lightning's jaw drop even more.

"I expect at least a thank you, for saving your life." Naruto told Lightning suddenly, causing her to snap out of her trance and huff in annoyance as she turned away. Sazh, Vanille and Hope noticed that there was something different about the blond though.

"Why did you change your clothes?" Hope asked, making Lightning twitch, showing that she wanted to hear the answer herself.

"I thought ... that I should stop trying to lie to myself, plus I thought that I might as well match the jacket with my other clothing." Naruto admitted, as he looked down at his outfit, which was now a red jacket, red trousers, and a red cape as well, almost trying to make himself look cool. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Hope told him, though was wondering why he would be doing something like that at the time that they were in.

"Don't worry too much about it Hope." Naruto told the boy, smiling at him. "I won't let anything happen to you, because you're someone who I want to make sure you get out of this alive, just like the others are."

"... Even Snow?" Hope asked, almost dreading the answer.

"Even Snow." Naruto confirmed. "He may be a down right moron at times, but so can I, everyone has their moments at times, whether they like to admit it or not. Snow's just extremely determined to help other people from what I can see." Naruto told the boy as they walked together, while Konan looked at Lightning, who seemed puzzled by what the blond had done, and was doing right now.

"I see ... thanks, I needed to hear that." Hope told the blond.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Naruto blinked, looking confused.

"YOU WERE ACTING SERIOUS A MOMENT AGO!" Hope shouted angrily pointing at Naruto who grinned brightly.

"So? I may act like it at times, but I don't like doing it." Naruto told Hope, still smiling bright. "It hurts my face to frown so much."

"HOW IS THAT AN EXCUSE!" Hope shouted, while Vanille started trying to calm down Hope, in front a clueless Naruto.

"I thought that he had gotten more serious for a moment." Lightning sighed to herself. "Guess I was wrong."

"That was probably the most serious I've ever seen Naruto act." Konan admitted, causing Lightning to turn to her with a strange look on her face.

"He doesn't seem like he was acting serious." Lightning admitted, causing Konan to sigh.

"When he was saving you from that Behemoth that was about to rip you to pieces, what did you see on his face?" Konan asked, causing Lightning to frown thoughtfully, only for her eyes to widen when he saw Naruto wearing an extremely serious face, as he held her after getting her away from the Alpha Behemoth, looking like a man who had seen many life threatening battles in his life, almost like a man who had seen death and spat it in the face.

"He did look serious," Lightning muttered, as realization started to sink in about how serious he must have been about saving her life, and how he had told her that he had expected a thanks for saving her life, he didn't sound his normal cockiness at all, he seemed like ... he was only focusing on going out, and battling the world just to make sure that she would be safe. It was at that moment that Lightning realized. Naruto would not just go that distance for her, but for everyone else that he cared about, literally anything if the situation asked for it, how she understood this, she didn't know, but she simply did.

"Look at that, they're sending in cruisers." Sazh called out suddenly, getting everyone's attention. The six of them were soon lying down to keep themselves out of site as they looked on to see a massive yellow ship that had landed, several troops of PSICOM Trackers marched out from it.

"Sweep Team! Form ranks!" The leading officer ordered, as they all loaded their guns.

"They must be hunting down Purge survivors." Sazh admitted nervously.

"I hope everyone made it out okay." Vanille admitted, causing Naruto and Konan to look at her with a frown, before they looked at each other.

"So do I." Sazh told her. "But nowhere is safe for them now. Damn it!" Sazh cursed. "Just became they shared a neighbourhood with a Fal'Cie ... They got treated like Pulse-tainted rats." Naruto's eyes hardened as he heard that, it reminded him of the Jinchuriki, himself included on that painful list.

"People really hate Pulse, don't they?" Vanille asked softly, looking slightly nervous as she asked the question, something that Konan and Naruto didn't miss.

"Not hate." Sazh told Vanille, while Naruto closed his eyes, knowing what he was going to say next. "More like fear. Tens of millions of people ... all scared of Pulse bogeymen." Sazh paused as he looked at his L'Cie mark. "They'd be shaking in their beds every night if they knew ... that L'Cie like us were around." Naruto started gritting his teeth in anger, this was way too similar to his life was.

"But ... They purged that entire town!" Vanille tried to argue.

"It's crazy, I know." Sazh told the young girl. "But the Sanctum Fal'Cie did nothing to stop it. Up until now, Eden's always stepped in ... to correct their errors of judgement. Guess humans aren't worth the effort. Figure they'll let us just kill each other off." Hope stood up suddenly, not looking impressed.

"L'Cie are not human." Hope announced suddenly, causing not only Vanille to stand up sharply, but Naruto as well.

"Listen, you, that's enough!" Vanille snapped at the young boy, grabbing his wrist suddenly. Naruto glared at the boy, something that really caught the young boy's attention. Did he just piss Naruto off because of what he had just said?

"I fucking hate this place already." Naruto sneered darkly, getting everyone's attention. "Fear because of what they are? I can already tell that this 'Purge' that you're talking about, is just a bloodbath, where the people who were meant to be 'Purged' were slaughtered like they were cattle." Naruto sounded really pissed off as he said these things. "Maybe we should just let this world rot away and die." Naruto told them, causing everyone to widen their in shock.

"Naruto ... you've got to think more clearly about this, you're not thinking straight ..." Konan started, only to get a Kyuubi-powered glare directed at her.

"I'm thinking straight!" Naruto snapped, losing his cool for the first time on this world. "Why should I care about this world, when all it's going to do is try to hunt me down and kill me!"

"Naruto! Please!" Vanille tried pleading with him, only for the blond to chuckle darkly.

"Maybe, I should just them the monster that they want to see!" Naruto grinned darkly, Vanille's eyes widen in shock and horror, remembering what her friend had said before.

"_Maybe we should just show them the monster that they want to see!"_

"Not again." Vanille whispered, as she started to shake slightly.

SMACK!

Naruto blinked as a red hand print started to form across his face, as Lightning glared at him after having slapped him across the face.

"The last thing we need right now, is for you to snap and start killing everyone!" Lightning told him angrily. "We need to keep ourselves calm and not to do anything stupid!" Naruto could only blink, he tried to form words, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Suddenly the ground started shaking. "What?"

"Where is it?" Sazh asked.

"I don't know." Hope told him.

"What's causing this?" Konan asked sounding completely confused by what was going on, while Naruto looked plain confused.

"There!" Lightning told the group, as one of the cruisers came past over one of the crystallized mountains, before it followed by several more, which all flew right past them. "They're sealing off the area. They're trying to trap the stragglers."

"Shit!" Naruto cursed, as he realized just how serious this was.

"We've got to get moving before we're caught in the net." Lightning told the others, while Konan knew just how serious this was, as did everyone else. They knew that they had to get moving, or else they wouldn't be getting out of here alive.

* * *

Snow and Naruto's clones were still going at it, trying to get Serah out of her crystal prison, but it was really hard to do with the tools that they had.

"Snow ... you really think we're going to get Serah out of here before the PSICOM troops come?" One of Naruto's clones asked, while the others continued to dig their way through.

"I'm not sure, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying." Snow told the clones, who nodded, respecting the tall blonde's answer.

"Alright then, let's get going then!"

* * *

A PSICOM Tracker was panicking, he had just seen his partner being killed by a bunch of L'Cie that they had been looking for, and they were too strong for him alone to handle, in fact he wasn't sure if a group of their squad could take them down.

"GAH!" The man screamed before he collapsed forward dead, with several kunai sticking out of his back. Naruto bent down to started to pull the blades out of the guys back, and wiped the blood over the Tracker's uniform to clean the blades.

"That's kind of disgusting, don't you think?" Sazh asked with a disgusted look on his face, Naruto just stared at the man.

"You don't want to leave evidence do you?" Naruto asked.

"No, but."

"Then let me continue, please." Naruto told the older man, who sighed to himself, wondering what could have caused this to happen to Naruto so quickly.

"Let's just keep going." Lightning told them, as she continued up the crystal hill with Konan at her side, they seemed to be in deep conversation about something that seemed important.

"He acts like a killer, who has done it so many times before that it's not even funny." Sazh sighed, making Hope and Vanille turn to him, with surprised and/or pale expressions on their face.

"So, Naruto has killed people before?" Hope asked sounding really surprised.

"Looks like it, and I wouldn't be too surprised if Konan has as well, especially when she seemed more experienced than Naruto does." Sazh admitted what he had seen so far.

"So ... they should help us get out of this mess, right?" Vanille asked Sazh nervously, not liking the idea of killing people just to get what she wanted.

"Of course we will." Naruto interrupted the conversation, making the three of them turn to him quickly. "I will make sure that each and every one of you gets out of here alive and well, it doesn't matter if you don't want me to save you or anything, because I just will continue to save you, whether you like it or not." Naruto told the three of them, causing Hope to look surprised, and to have an admiring look on his face. Vanille looked realized for some reason, while Sazh relaxed after hearing those words, though he didn't know why however.

"Guys, heads up." Lightning called to them, as she and Konan looked round the corner to see a couple of machines called Watchdrones stalking around the area, making Lightning look a little uncomfortable. "These things can be a real pain in an ass."

"What are those things anyway?" Naruto asked, as he casted a Libra spell on one of them, he then blinked at the information that he got out of it. "It's weak against Water and Lightning spells, but has a powerful attack called Electrokick ... it seems like it's a powerful attack, gotta be careful to avoid that."

"How did you get that information so quickly?" Lightning demanded. "Even my Libra spell doesn't get information that quickly!"

"Mine does though." Konan admitted, causing the others to turn to her as well. "Battle experience I think caused us to get information so quickly."

"Never mind that, let's just beat the crap out of these guys!" Naruto demanded, while Hope nodded in agreement. "Besides, they don't look human, so it doesn't matter too much does it now?"

"Not really." Lightning admitted. "Let's just beat them quickly already! Thunder!" A beam of lightning shot down from the sky and hit one of the watchdrones causing it to twitching wildly.

"Water!" Konan chanted suddenly as a beam of water hit the same watchdrone.

"Thunder!" Naruto snapped as another lightning strike smashed into the watchdrone, causing it to explode violently, sending the other two flying.

"Fire!" Sazh shouted as he held his guns. "Flamestrike!" Suddenly he shot his bullets, which were covered in flames, causing another one of the watchdrones to be destroyed.

"Water!" Vanille shouted as a beam of water was shot at the remaining watchdrone, which was charging at them, causing it to twitch violently once more.

"Blizzard!" Hope announced his spell as he suddenly froze the remaining watchdrone, before Lightning charged and slashed at the machine, which fell apart still frozen solid.

"That was pretty easy." Sazh admitted, sounding somewhat surprised. "The way you described them Naruto, you made them sound really difficult."

"If you don't catch them off guard, they can be difficult." Naruto admitted looking annoyed. "Nothing is ever easy. Remember that when you have to fight something that may look weak, after all if you let your guard down for even a moment, you are done for." Naruto told them. Causing the Sazh, Hope and Vanille to look like that they were taking this advice to heart, while Lightning frowned.

"Where did you get that from, did you make it up or something?" Lightning asked the blond.

"Nope, my teacher told me that, and he also told me that people who abandon their mission are trash, but those who abandon their teammates/friends are worse than trash." Naruto explained, causing Lightning to have to hold in a gasp. That felt and looked so weird hearing that from the blond, especially since it wasn't his advice that he had made up, but to hear that his teacher told him that made her wonder what kind of teacher he had.

"Let's keep moving, shall we?" Konan asked the others before they all ran across the bridge only to find some PSICOM Trackers and a PSICOM Ranger waiting for them. Sazh shot the Ranger straight away, causing the man to collapse soon afterwards, while Naruto, Konan and Lightning charged at the Trackers, using their kunai and Gunblade respectively. The Ranger that Lightning had battled tried to defend himself, but failed as Lightning got through his defence and sliced across his chest mercilessly. Naruto and Konan were using many kunai to try and catch their opponents off guard.

"Aero!" Vanille shouted suddenly, causing the Tracker that was battling Konan to lose his focus for one second, which was more than enough for Konan to use to stab him in the chest.

"Fire!" Hope suddenly shouted out his spell and the Tracker jumped out of the way and straight onto Naruto's kunai, causing him to be finished quickly.

"I thought that these guys would be stronger than this." Naruto admitted smoothly as he cleaned his weapon again. "But then again, compared to me and Konan, they are amateurs."

"Naruto, keep your mouth shut." Konan ordered, causing Naruto to raise his hands up defensively rolling his eyes in annoyance and started walking off alone. "Naruto, we need to stick together."

"Then hurry up, I'm not going to stick around so we can get killed." Naruto told the woman, who sighed in annoyance. Lightning seemed to be taking Naruto's advice and followed him without any hesitation, while Hope and Vanille did the same. Konan looked at Sazh and then walked together with him to follow the others. Soon after finding out that their jumping power had increased dramatically, the six of them were continuing their journey by jumping their way up a lot of gaps; they encountered a Watchdrone and a flying motorcycle?

"What the hell is that thing?" Naruto asked, while Lightning did a quick Libra spell.

"A Ciconia Velocycle, has a really good defence against Physical and Magical attacks." Lightning explained what the thing was, and its strengths.

"What about its weaknesses?" Naruto asked, ducking under a kick from the Watchdrone with ease, before blasting it with a quick Aero spell, while Konan splashed it with a Water Spell.

"There doesn't appear to be one." Lightning told Naruto and the others.

"Great, that sounds really troublesome." Naruto sighed, before he blasted the Watchdrone with a Thunder spell at the same time as Lightning, causing the Watchdrone to explode. "We really make a good team Lightning."

"You would say that." Lightning grunted, as she dodged a beam gun shot from the Ciconia Velocycle by jumping in the air, before she fired some bullets from her Gunblade in response.

"I can see its weakness." Konan told them suddenly, causing the two to look at her, as Sazh, Hope and Vanille continued their attacks, apparently knowing what Konan was about to say. "It takes a long time to reload its attack."

"That's it?" Naruto blinked in surprised.

"That's it." Konan confirmed, causing Naruto's eyebrow to twitch slightly.

"And here I thought that this would be really hard!" Naruto complained as he formed a Rasengan in hand. "TAKE THIS!" Naruto roared as he leaped at the machine and allowed the Rasengan to slam into its outer shell, causing a massive hole to appear in the side, but it still continued on.

"Thunder!" Lightning shouted as the beam of thunder slammed into where Naruto had made the hole, causing the machine to twitch violently, before it exploded, as the beam of thunder had managed to get to its inside, which Naruto's Rasengan hadn't managed to do so.

"I deserve some credit for the last one." Naruto told Lightning suddenly.

"You didn't get the killing blow." Lightning argued.

"But I opened up a massive hole that you used." Naruto pointed out.

"I still got the killing blow, which counts more than causing an opening." Lightning told Naruto.

"No it doesn't." Naruto glared at Lightning. "I was just as good as you in that battle admit it!"

"No chance, and allow you to be able to build your ego even more, I'll pass." Lightning declined.

"I don't have an ego!" Naruto shouted.

"Well why do you think you did the most work in that battle?" Lightning glared at Naruto now.

"Because I practically gave you the opening!" Naruto argued.

"You think they're going to stop arguing soon?" Hope asked with a deadpanned expression.

"Doesn't look like it." Sazh told the boy.

"Nope." Vanille agreed with Sazh on this one.

"I get the feeling that this has happened with Naruto and someone else before." Konan mused, as they stared at the glaring contest, the sparks could literally been seen between the two of them.

"It's almost like they're a married old couple," Vanille piped in cheerfully, causing Sazh to choke on his spit, while Konan tried to help him out by patting him on the back.

"That's a little strange, but I can actually see that as well." Hope admitted, as he looked at Vanille, before paling slightly. "If we ever spilt up, I'd hate to be travelling with the two of them if they're going to act like this." Hope admitted.

"..." Konan, Sazh and Vanille looked at each before sticking on one side, leaving Hope on his own to deal with the STILL arguing couple.

"WAIT A MINUTE! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LEAVE ME WITH THEM ARE YOU!" Hope shouted desperately, waving his arms around in desperation. "MY NOSE STILL HURTS FROM EARLIER!"

"I'm so sorry for what happened earlier!" Naruto called out to the young boy, making him blush as he suddenly felt the blond rubbing his head again, but still, he liked the feeling for some strange reason so didn't tell him to leave him alone.

"Are you trying to make Hope look up to you?" Lightning asked with a deadpanned expression, causing Naruto to blink, before he slowly looked down at Hope, who looked annoyed at what was being said, wondering why Lightning thought that, when he already looked up to Naruto, without the blond even trying to act like a role model.

"Let's move on shall we?" Konan asked as she started dragging both Naruto AND Lightning by the ear along to the path that they were taking, causing them to yelp in pain and try to get her to let go of them. The others followed in amusement and/or surprise.

* * *

"Whoa. This whole place is crystal!" Vanille looked on in awe, while Sazh stretched his arms. Naruto and Lightning were keeping away from Konan after they had managed to get her to let go of their ears, which were throbbing in pain at the moment.

"I wonder what it would be like. To become a crystal, I mean." Sazh wondered out loud.

"You're gonna complete your Focus?" Vanille asked the old man, who shrugged.

"Maybe. If I knew what it was." Sazh answered. "I properly don't want to know." Sazh admitted, causing Naruto to frown.

"Hey Lightning. Did Serah say anything to you about her Focus?" Vanille asked the pink haired swordswoman suddenly, who reached up to her necklace.

"Nothing." Lightning answered, sounding a bit depressed.

"Oh, you know what? She probably didn't want to worry you?" Vanille tried to cheer the older woman up.

"Or she just didn't think she could trust me." Lightning admitted, as she started to walk away sadly.

"Or she thought that you might have enough trouble on your hands, with your job." Naruto called out to the swordswoman. "I used to be like that with my friends when I had something that troubled me." Naruto admitted. "Still do really." Naruto sighed before he started walking with the swordswoman.

"..." Konan looked on as to the two of them walked away. "Or maybe she's just a private person." Konan sighed to herself as she followed the duo, with Sazh, Vanille and Hope not too far behind. It wasn't too long before they encounter three Watchdrones, in a small crystallized tunnel.

"I won't be able to use any of my powerful attacks." Naruto admitted as if that it was the end of the world that he could do so.

"Naruto, we can still use the Water Spells." Lightning told Naruto bluntly, causing the boy to look annoyed with himself.

"Can we use our Lightning attacks?" Naruto asked, pointing at the ceiling above them.

"Not really." Lightning admitted, before she sliced one of the Watchdrones in half when it got too close to her. "But that doesn't stop me from killing these Watchdrones though." Lightning pointed out.

"Good point." Naruto admitted as he decided to screw it and used the Rinnegan to suddenly cause one of the Watchdrones to slam into the other one as they slammed into the crystal ceiling and a few seconds later blew up. "I feel so much better now." Naruto sighed happily, before they decided to move on through the tunnel.

So then they continued to go on, and on, and on until suddenly Hope asked a question.

"Hey Naruto, what did you do that makes the soldiers amateurs compared to you and Konan?" Hope asked, causing Naruto to sweat-dropped, wondering if they had asked this question earlier and answered it.

"Should I?" Naruto asked Konan, who glared. "I'll take that as a no then." Naruto sweat-dropped, before he finally turned back to Hope. "Sorry Hope, but I'm not allowed to tell you, but maybe later, okay?" Naruto smiled at the young boy, who nodded slowly, wondering why he wasn't allowed to tell him or the others yet.

"Where are we now?" Sazh asked sounding confused, as did everyone, especially when they saw that they were about to enter what appeared to be a temple up ahead, that was made in stone and wasn't even touched by crystal, which seemed perfectly convenient for them to be able to travelled further than before. They had finally managed to get to the Gates of Antiquity, why it was called that no-one but the people who named the place will ever know.

* * *

Snow and Naruto's clones were still going at it, when one of the clones suddenly felt something come through.

"Hey Snow, looks like they've built a net or something to try and weed out the stragglers or something, to make sure that no-one escapes." The lead clone told the taller blond, who looked surprised, but didn't stop digging. "Aren't you worried or anything?"

"Nope, not one bit." Snow admitted. "Until I get Serah out of the crystal, I'm not going to start worrying about myself, because compared to me, Serah is far more important." Snow told the clone, who blinked.

"Okay, just thought I should ask, after seeing your reaction to the news, that's all." Naruto's clone admitted, while his brothers continued to help Snow try and dig Serah out.

"How did you get the information about that anyway? There shouldn't be a way for you to do so." Snow told the boy. "At least not without some special ability or some sort."

"When one of us clones gets killed, or dispels itself, the person who made it gets all of the information from what the clone has seen." Naruto's clone told the man. "Since I made two clones that are currently on Naruto, one of them dispelled and told me what the news was, so I knew that I had to tell you." Naruto's lead clone told the man.

"I see," Snow paused for a moment. "Thanks Naruto."

"No problem."

* * *

There had not been expecting it, there was no way that they could have been able to do so, but they had to fight it to make sure that they didn't die, Lightning felt a cold chill go down her spine as she saw that an Alpha Behemoth charging at them, after what had happened with the last one, where she had literally almost lost her head at the hands of the last one.

"FIRE!" Both Sazh and Hope shouted their spell at the same time, aiming to make sure that the creature didn't get a chance to do any serious damage like the other one of its kind almost did last time around, the Behemoth screamed as it was hit by the spells that were its weakness.

"WATER!" Konan, Lightning and Vanille shot that spell at the Alpha Behemoth causing it to scream in pain at how many powerful spells hit it, especially since they were all spells in its weakness books.

"THUNDER!" Naruto shouted as a beam of thunder suddenly shot down from the skin and caused an explosion on the back of the creature causing an incredible roar of pain to be heard. Sazh suddenly shot off a few bullets, while Naruto, Lightning and Konan charged at the beast, while Hope launched his boomerang, while Vanille used her rod to stick several beams into it. The creature suddenly collapsed after the boomerang hit it, the bullets punctured it, and the blades sliced through it, never getting back up again.

"That felt really good." Lightning admitted, as she stretched causing a few clicks to be heard from her shoulders. "At least none of us were close to dying this time."

"Nope!" Vanille chirped cheerfully.

"I bet there're a lot of enemies still waiting for us inside." Naruto admitted his concerns.

"Then we should be extra careful, and make sure that none of them get the upper hand on us." Hope told them.

"Yes." Konan nodded.

"Well, whenever you're ready." Sazh told them, spinning his guns in his hands. Lightning and Naruto stared at each other, before Lightning allowed a smirk to grace her lips.

"As long as you don't fall behind, I don't have any problem with it." Lightning admitted, smirking.

"Glad to hear." Naruto admitted, allowing a smirk of his own to appear. "Lead the way Lightning, lead the way."

The six of them continued their journey onwards, knowing that they still had tough challenges ahead.

* * *

Chapter 5 done! Yes! That's a good sign isn't it?

Anyway, this is only my second post of the month, which is weird, cause I'm normally faster than this. But then again, I've been ill, because of the snow in England, and because I've been busy as well with college, which has ended until January. Plus I got myself a brand new computer, which is really big as well.

Anyway, I have the results for the summons poll!

* * *

Naruto - Summons

Gilgamesh - 23

Fenrir - 8

Ifrit - 6

Knights of the Round - 6

Leviathan - 5

* * *

Konan - Summons

Siren - 12

Ultima - 5

Eden - 4

Carbuncle - 4

Leviathan - 4

* * *

It wasn't even a close shave in the end. Naruto gets to summon Gilgamesh, while Konan gets to summon Siren. Now all I've got to do is get a time and placd for them to fight them to get the right for the summons.

Here are the pairings so far.

Naruto x Lightning

Snow x Serah

Sazh x Konan

The pairings that are not yet decided.

Hope x Vanille - 4

Sasuke x Fang - 4

Fang x Vanille - 1

Another pairing which will not be happening - Naruto x Lightning x Vanille x Fang

* * *

Sasuke or no Sasuke?

Sasuke - 4

No Sasuke - 4

Personally I have nothing against Sasuke ... no seriously Sasuke haters, stop glaring at me, as a writer I can make anyone good or bad whenever I want. Because I have the power to do so.

But you're not making it easy for me to chose whether or not he's to be in the fic or not, and from the look of things, if he was to be in the fic, he would be paired up with Fang, the first time that it would ever happen.

* * *

Now, I personally am not sure about this chapter, but that might be because I was watching parodies while I was writing this, so yea.

I'll also leave you with an Omake (and possibly what might happen if I get motivated enough to write it in a future fanfic, called Akatsuki's Fox.)

Naruto's reunion with Sasuke

He looked across at the man that had once been considered to be his brother, his blue eyes met his cold black ones. Naruto Uzumaki looked across the bar at Sasuke Uchiha, the blond wearing his Akatsuki cloak, while Sasuke wore his attire that was given to him by Orochimaru.

"What would you like to order?" The barman asked the blond, who stared at the Uchiha, who stared right back at him.

"Some tea, please." Naruto uttered softly, not allowing his eyes to break from Sasuke's.

"As you wish." The barman told the blond.

"What do you want, Sasuke Uchiha?" Naruto asked the man smoothly.

"You ... are in the Akatsuki now?" Sasuke asked Naruto, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"What if I am?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at the man.

"The same organization as my brother, who I want to kill?" Sasuke frowned darkly.

"You don't want to kill him, Sasuke." Naruto told the man softly. "He told me everything that night."

"About how he slaughtered my clan like it was nothing!" Sasuke looked more than annoyed.

"No." Naruto answered, sipping at his tea when it arrived. "He was telling me, about how he wanted his precious little brother to be spared from the hands of the council."

* * *

There's a possible scene from a possibly future fanfic I may one day write.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and the omake.

Until next time, goodbye and goodnight.


	6. Find the Means of Escape

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, this is a challenge given to me by N.A.B. 0206

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

Finding the Means of Escape

* * *

The Ages of the Group

Sazh - 40

Konan - 27 - Been changed for obvious reasons

Lightning and Snow - 21

Vanille - 19

Naruto - 16

Hope - 14

* * *

Pieces of machine were scattered across the floor, but that didn't stop them, neither did the men on the floor, men who had tried their best to stop them from succeeding, only to fail. They were now running up a piece of fallen building to get to where they needed to go, and the group of L'Cie weren't going to stop anytime soon.

"Even the flames turned to crystal. This is ridiculous." Sazh muttered to himself, not sounding too pleased with what he was seeing as he looked at the orange crystal around the area.

"Makes you wonder if it's even possible for everything to happen in this world nowadays." Naruto mused to himself, while Lightning scoffed to herself, not about to admit that she had been thinking the same thing.

"I take it that those are our cold blooded beasts?" Sazh asked as they looked down to see several men walking about expecting a fight. Two Crusaders and at least 4 PSICOM Rangers down below, Naruto looked down and seemed to be measuring how far he could throw something. Konan seemed to have noticed this and gave him a warning look, only for Naruto to give her a look as well. It seemed that a voiceless argument had started and none of the others seemed to know what was going on.

"It will save us time," Naruto announced as he formed a Rasenshuriken in hand, causing the others to back away after seeing the damage that the last one had done before hand.

"Do you want to bring that pillar down as well as the entire building on top of us!" Konan demanded, just wondering how he managed to beat Pein with thinking like this.

"I want to test something out! It will make thing easier for me to control the flight and the direction of the attack." Naruto admitted, before he launched the attack, despite Konan's protest and the dangerous attack proceeded to tear the men down below apart as if they weren't even there. Much to Konan's amazement the Rasenshuriken proceeded to change its course of direction and tear the others apart as well before it started spinning its way towards Naruto, whose palm was held out to catch it. Lightning, Sazh, Hope and Vanille looked on in shock and horror as the destructive attack got closer and closer to Naruto, before suddenly the attack was stopped and broken apart, before the chakra that the boy had used to make the attack flowed back into the jinchuriki's body, Konan was possibly the only person to realize that Naruto had activated the Rinnegan during the course of his attack and had been using what appeared to be puppet strings to guide the attack back to him. A combination that had never been seen before, but an effective one indeed, still it didn't give the blond the right to scare the crap out of everyone around him however.

"You idiot!" Lightning and Hope snapped at the same time, Lightning punching the blond in the face, while Hope looked really pissed off with the blond. Neither Sazh nor Vanille looked too impressed with the blond either, while Konan gave him a look that just screamed 'I told you so'.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed!" Lightning demanded angrily, her face holding a look of pure fury as she looked at him. "At least tell us what you're planning on doing next time you do something like that!"

"You scared us, Naruto." Hope told the blond, who looked down at the silver haired boy, his bruise already starting to fade away, the blond actually looked away guiltily at that, wondering why he hadn't told them what he was going to do beforehand, only to realize that he never did so in Konoha and that everyone seem to know what was expected of him every time he went into battle. That was somewhat weird.

"Sorry, never needed to do so beforehand at home." Naruto shrugged, not really too sure what else to say in response. Vanille seemed to accept the blonde's reason pretty quickly, while Hope and Sazh were somewhat slower than Vanille at accepting it, they had looked like that they had put a lot of thought into it, while Lightning didn't look like that she was just going to accept that at all.

"Just how do you think that I will ever be able to forgive or accept you for what you did?" Lightning demanded getting right into Naruto's face, causing the blond to frown before he turned and walked away.

"I really don't care at the ..." Naruto started, only for a piece of debris to suddenly slammed right into his head, making the blond stumble around drunkenly before he fall from the stairs to the level below, landing with a loud 'crash'.

"NARUTO!"

"**FREEDOM! I'M BACK AT LONG LAST!" **Kyuubi's voice could be heard screaming outas he used Naruto's body to jump onto the pillar in the middle of the room, looking very pleased with himself, not noticing the large piece of rock directly above him becoming loose because of his demonic chakra. His blood red eyes staring directly at the slightly disturbed group, who by all means had no idea what to do next or what was going to happen next, the demon using Naruto's body pointed at the group of L'Cie with an evil glint in his eyes. "**I WILL KILL YOU ALL AND ..."** Kyuubi started, only for the piece of rock to slam right into his head, causing the demon possessed boy to gain a gazed look. "**Twinkle ... twinkle ... little star ..."** Kyuubi started singing drunkenly, only to have another piece of boulder slam into his head, causing him to fall to the floor below with a loud 'crash'.

"... Should we be worried now?" Sazh asked, while Konan sighed before she jumped down to where Naruto was and started checking his vitals.

"He's fine, just unconscious and has a concussion, a major one." Konan told the others as they got to her after using the stairs, deciding not to follow Naruto's or Konan's example of jumping down, after what had happened to the blond Jinchuriki anyway.

"How long will he be out for?" Hope and Vanille asked at the same time, but not looking surprised because of the fact that they were concerned for the blonde's health and wellbeing.

"For an hour at least." Konan answered, not about to explain the fact that BOTH Naruto and Kyuubi had been knocked out by an accident that Naruto himself may had caused in the first place. "But for now someone is going to have to carry him, someone who helped caused this little mess in the first place." Konan told the group, who all slowly turned to Lightning, who for some reason hadn't been paying attention to what was being discussed. She suddenly noticed their looks and decided that she didn't like them, not one bit.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Lightning asked, before she looked down at Naruto and looked back at the group of fellow L'Cie who nodded. "No, no, no! You're not going to make me do it! I will not carry him around this place! No way are you going to convince to help him at all!"

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Lightning growled to herself, as she carried Naruto's body around the place. It just so happen that there was a load of stairs as well on course to where they were aiming to go.

"You helped cause it." Konan told the younger woman, looking stern about it. "So you're gonna do it, and stop whining about it."

"I'm not whining." Lightning scowled, grunting as she tried to get Naruto's body into a better position on her back.

"Yes you are, think of it this way." Konan offered suddenly. "Naruto would do the same for you and would do anything to make sure that you're safe."

"And you know this how? I thought that you were both enemies before you came here." Lightning frowned, wondering just how the blue haired woman knew this.

"We had spies reporting information back to us about him, that's why we know so much." Konan told Lightning, who looked on in understanding. "He also had a friend who had pink hair, apparently had a crush on her too."

"Stop telling me this, I don't want to know." Lightning hissed.

"If you really want me to, just giving you information that you might find interesting, that's all." Konan shrugged as they walked up the stairs.

"Hey, hey! Looks like we can get through here!" Vanille announced suddenly as she looked up to some steps which were leading to a blocked passageway, which did had a gap big enough for people to go through.

"Well done ... Vanille ..." Naruto uttered, barely conscious as he snuggled against Lightning's back, rubbing his head against the back of the pink haired woman's shoulder, causing Lightning to freeze, before snarling really hoping that the blond that she was carrying DIDN'T start drooling on her, that would be more than a bit disgusting.

"Can't hurt to try." Sazh admitted, before he suddenly jumped up with ease and made it through the hole without any difficulties, before Hope, Vanille and Konan followed, also doing it fine. "Just you now, Lightning!"

"Joy." Lightning grumbled as she jumped up, knowing that Naruto would be fine at the moment, especially since his head was resting on her shoulder. She landed fine just behind the others with Naruto still in place, actually snuggling into Lightning as if she was a comfortable pillow, strangely enough, she didn't protest too much, just didn't care anymore.

"Enjoying yourself?" Sazh asked looking amused, causing Lightning to glare at him, but she didn't answer his question, not feeling the need to even bother.

"Great, more of those PSICOM guys." Hope grumbled as he looked ahead as the group of L'Cie could see several members of PSICOM pacing about, stalking the area, just asking for a reason to use the guns that they had in hand. "And they've spotted us, brilliant."

"Lightning ... can you please make sure Naruto doesn't get hit or worse." Konan told Lightning, who grumbled under her breath about 'stupid blondes' and 'how stupid this was', even if she couldn't do much about it.

* * *

He was breathing, breathing heavily wondering just how he could be alive after all this time, hadn't he been ... killed ... or was he still alive just waiting to be woken up? He couldn't even remember his own name; let alone what he looked like. Did he do something to have deserved all of this?

"Hey! I found someone!" He could hear a voice, why?

"Is he an L'Cie?" Another voice could be heard asking.

"Dunno, what should we do about him?"

"Maybe we should just shoot him just to make sure that he isn't one."

"You will do no such thing!" A female voice could be heard suddenly.

"Lieutenant Colonel Jihl Nabaat!" One of the men cried out in surprise. He decided that it was the right moment to try and stand, he was still breathing heavily but that never stopped him before, so why would it stop him now?

"He's standing!" One of the men shouted in shock, the man however paid no heed to the surprise in the voice of the person who had shouted out what he was doing.

"You ... will ... not ... harm ..." The man started, only to start coughing violently and to cough up his own blood, before he collapsed on the ground unconscious.

"What an interesting and handsome young man." Was the last thing that he heard Jihl muse before he his vision went black because he was no longer conscious.

* * *

They were dead. Numerous PSICOM soldiers were lying dead on the floor as the group of L'Cie marched on without any remorse as they hadn't expected any in return.

"Something's making the hairs on my neck stand up." Sazh admitted suddenly, feeling more than a bit uncomfortable.

"You've got to stop worrying, Sazh!" Vanille told the oldest member of the group as they continued on. Konan meanwhile had frowned looking up at the sky, wondering why she felt as uneasy as Sazh did.

"Why does Naruto seem to be getting paler?" Hope asked suddenly, making everyone turn to the boy that was currently being carried by Lightning, even if the woman in question hadn't wanted to do the task.

"I don't know." Konan admitted softly to herself.

"We outran 'em. We'll be fine now." Vanille announced suddenly, making everyone look around and see only a bunch of stairs and not a single soldier nearby. Still it didn't give them a reason to relax, as anything could happen next, everyone knew that as they walked up the stone stairs to get to a clear area. They looked around the area, while Hope and Sazh were panting slightly, Sazh more than Hope however, Lightning didn't even act like that she was carrying more weight than she had been beforehand, while Konan didn't seem fazed at all.

"Wow!" Vanille uttered as she looked around the area, little did anyone know a flying creature was looking down at them from the sky, looking and thinking that the human below were just prey, waiting for just one of them to split from the group and make itself a target. Suddenly Vanille started to wonder off.

"Stay close." Lightning ordered, not liking the idea of Vanille going off somewhere on her own.

"I want to look around." Vanille giggled happily as she looked around the area and skipped towards the crystallized fire, Lightning looked anything but impressed and dropped Naruto without a care in a world, getting Hope to cry out and start checking over the older boy in worry. Konan's eyes widen in shock at WHAT she was seeing making its way towards Vanille.

"VANILLE! GET OUT OF THERE!" Konan shouted loudly, causing Vanille to look up and scream as she started to run out of her position of where the wall of crystallized flame was.

"Vanille!" Hope looked worried, only for his jaw to drop when a flying creature smashed through some of the fallen pillars and broke some crystallized flame as it roared loudly and chased after her.

"Over here!" Sazh called out to the young girl, before the group got a proper look at the creature, not noticing that they had left Naruto on his own, not moving. The blue creature stared at them with its green eyes, and the Garuda Interceptor roared loudly before it charged at the group, causing everyone to jump of roll out of the way of the attack, even Naruto managed to move himself despite the fact that he was hardly there at the moment.

"Libra!" Lightning shouted as she scanned the creature before her, only for her eyes to widen in surprise suddenly as she spotted a weakness of the Garuda Interceptor that was currently attacking them. "Wind attacks! It's weak against Wind attacks!"

"Great, just when we face something that has a weakness which is Naruto's specialty, he happens to be out cold, absolutely brilliant." Konan growled to herself as the creature tried to charge at them once more, only for everyone to dodge out of the way in time.

"Aero!" Sazh and Vanille shouted at the same time, causing the flying creature to unleash a terrifying scream of pain, something that caused Naruto to twitch for a moment, a twitch that Konan caught in that small moment and smirked about.

'_Good, all we need to do is cause this creature to scream some more and Naruto will be back quickly, makes me wonder what he will use when he comes to.'_ Konan thought to herself curiously as she unleashed a Water spell at the monster, while Lightning jumped up and slashed at the creature numerous times, Hope meanwhile used his Fire spell, hoping to cause some damage as well.

"Aero!" Vanille called out cheerfully as her Aero spell mixed in with Hope's Fire spell, causing an explosion and the creature to scream in agony, something which caused Naruto to twitch more violently this time, before he suddenly sat up and looked around glaring at the creature that he could feel was making all of that racket. The creature suddenly turned and revealed its second mouth which was much bigger and more dangerous looking than the first one and proceeded to smash through some crystallized fire, which by chance happened to be in their way at the time.

"It's charging up." Lightning announced suddenly as the creature suddenly spun around and did a pose.

"Charging? What are you talking about? Charging for what?" Sazh asked suddenly surprised and somewhat worried about what it could be doing before the creature started glowing after having pumped itself full of electricity.

"Its last moments." Lightning declared as she charged in followed by a now awake Naruto and Konan, the three of them took note of the machine that happened to be behind the creature, while Sazh, Vanille and Hope got themselves ready for a fight with the flying creature. The Garuda Interceptor started glowing a bright green colour and was suddenly covered by a green barrier.

"I don't care if it has got a barrier or anything like that, I'm just going to smash it to pieces and tear it apart!" Naruto snapped angrily as his eyes charged colour. His eyes were now a frog yellow, it was now official, Naruto Uzumaki was now using his Sage Mode, something that made Konan look at the boy with wide eyes, not expecting him to go this far on the creature that they were going to have to kill to survive.

"You can't do both," Konan pointed out bluntly.

"I don't care! I want to kill it for waking me up!" Naruto complained making everyone else wonder just what had happened when he had taken several boulder size rocks to the head and if knocked a few screws loose.

"Whatever, let's just kill this thing so we can move on!" Lightning interrupted suddenly, just as the Garuda Interceptor roared before it tried to hit them with some lightning bolts, something that the others noted.

"It's probably immune to Lightning based attacks?" Sazh asked loudly over the sound of the attacks.

"Yeah! But that makes it weak against Wind based attacks, something which just happens to be my strongest element!" Naruto shouted back dodging yet another lightning strike.

"So let's just get this barrier down first before we worry about anything else." Konan shouted to them, joining the conversation now, dodging a stray lightning bolt.

"As long as we kill this thing, I don't care how we do it." Lightning told them, as she slashed the creature in the face several more times, while Vanille and Sazh used their Aero spells with Hope backing them up with his Fire spell, aiming to cause a few more explosions, something which the Garuda Interceptor managed to stop from getting hit by most of the explosion, it still did some damage to the creature however. Suddenly the flying beast started spinning in the air and powering up using the electricity in the air to build up a powerful lightning ball from its rear mouth, Naruto's eyes widen in surprise when he realized that Lightning just happened to be underneath where the attack would be.

"Lightning!" Naruto shouted, before he suddenly tackled her to the ground, just before the Hellstorm Bolt had smashed into the ground, causing a massive explosion. Naruto and Lightning looked at where the Hellstorm Bolt had landed with wide eyes, the crater that it had created just told them enough about how dangerous it was.

"That's the second time you saved me." Lightning uttered, before she shoved Naruto off of her, after realizing that he was in fact straddling her once again. Suddenly they heard the creature unleash a cry of pain again and saw that the barrier had faded away into nothingness. They both smirked at each other and nodded. Lightning suddenly launched herself in the air and slashed the flying creature's face a couple of times before she used a Water spell at it, which Vanille and Sazh used some Aero spells, while Hope and Konan used some Fire Spells to use a powered up explosion. The Garuda Interceptor screamed in agony as it felt all of the attacks, before it found itself being smashed into the ground due to Naruto's use of the Shinra Tensei, before its wings were suddenly trapped on the ground, after Naruto had thrown some of the heavy pillars onto both wings. The monster screeched in fury and tried to break free, but it was already too late. Up in the sky, Naruto Uzumaki was powering up a Rasenshuriken, his eyes now a mixture of the Rinnegan and Sage Mode, flaring up with so much chakra it was simply unreal, it was something that caused Konan's eyes to widen in shock.

'_If Nagato and I had fought against Naruto when he was like this ... we would never have stood a chance!_' Konan thought trying to her hardest not to pale in fright at how powerful Naruto could have become.

"TAKE THIS!" Naruto roared as he threw the powerful attack at the monster that was still trapped. The Garuda Interceptor roared frantically, desperately trying to break free, but it wasn't enough, it was never going to be enough to break free to come out of this battle alive, the Rasenshuriken achieved its target and started ripping through the creature, before it suddenly exploded, causing a shockwave that knocked everyone except for Konan off their feet. Naruto dropped from the sky and landed perfectly on his feet, before his eyes widened and he started to cough violently as he dropped to his knees, it didn't stop him though from gasping out his thoughts.

"Used ... so ... much ... chakra ..." Naruto gasped out, as Konan quickly made her way to him, almost either acting like an overprotective mother or older sister for some strange reason. For a moment Konan show Nagato doing the same thing, before he used that machine that he had died in, and she also saw Yahiko smiling brightly at her as well, telling Konan that he was perfectly fine after he had gasped out the same thing.

"Naruto." Konan uttered softly, looking at the boy who was gasping for air. '_Why do you have to be so similar to Nagato and Yahiko?'_

"Is Naruto alright?" Hope and Vanille were now with Konan surrounding the blond, with Lightning and Sazh not too far behind.

"He'll be fine, just exhausted himself by doing so many things at once." Konan told them as she picked up Naruto and carried him over her shoulder.

"Hey look! Check it out!" Vanille cried out happily suddenly, pointing at the airship that just happened to be ahead of them.

"Come on. Hop to it, let's go!" Sazh told the others as he followed Vanille, not noticing that a bird suddenly dropped by and landed on one of the pillars above, watching the six of them. Naruto groaned sounding miserable before he fell asleep, while Konan paused and looked up, before she narrowed her eyes but didn't tell anyone about what she had seen.

"This will make things easier." Vanille clapped her hands together in delight at the site of the airship.

"Yeah, knowing our luck, it's probably missing an engine." Sazh told Vanille, frowning and crossing his arms.

"You shouldn't be so negative." Vanille told him with a displeased look written on her face.

"And you shouldn't get your hopes up." Sazh dismissed Vanille's comment easily, causing Vanille to huff in annoyance, before she and Hope followed him. Lightning looked around and then looked at the sleeping blond, noting that he looked so peaceful and cute when he was sleeping, before she looked away for a moment wondering just what he gotten into her to make her think like that. Never even noticing the bird that decided to fly away, but Konan did, and she frowned in suspicion, wondering why the bird would just randomly appear when there was nothing else nearby.

* * *

The sound of digging could be heard as Snow and 9 of the Naruto clones continued trying to dig Serah out of the crystal that she was trapped in, but they were still not making any progress at what they were trying to achieve. Snow sighed to himself, trying to catch his breath, wondering just why they weren't making any progress with the amount of people helping. He started trying to dig again, only to be interrupted.

"They're here!" The clone that wasn't digging shouted out suddenly, making Snow look up to see some cruisers flying above them and then to be caught in the spotlight.

"Damn, I knew that this might happen." The lead clone growled as numerous ships looked down upon them. Snow took one last glance and scoffed before he continued trying to get Serah out. "You don't care do you?" The lead clone asked.

"No." Snow answered easily.

"Right." Naruto's lead clone nodded, before he too started digging again.

"Sweep Team to base. L'Cie spotted. I repeat, L'Cie spotted." There was a radio broadcast sending the message to the other units. "Pulse L'Cie. Confirmed." Snow suddenly stood up and turned to the airships in the sky.

"You gonna lend me a hand, or what?" Snow asked loudly, still holding his metal spike that he had been using for digging. Suddenly numerous soldiers dropped from the airships and used devices that stopped them getting injured. They got up in line and aimed their guns at Snow and the clones, who looked anything but amused.

"Commencing cleanup protocol." The orders was given, it was not a matter of when and how they were carried out, if Snow and the Naruto clones allowed that to happen.

"Cleanup?" Snow asked as he raised the metal bar pool thing that he had been using to try and dig Serah out. "Let me help!" Snow suddenly through the metal pole at the soldiers hitting two of them, causing the men to fall on their backs, making the others look up at the blonds cautiously. Snow suddenly launched himself as well and landing on one of the men. The lead Naruto clone smirked and pointed at down as well.

"What are you guys waiting for? Let's help him out!" He ordered.

"Yes!"

"Right!"

"Woohoo!" The clones launched themselves into battle as well even as more soldiers came down to help their comrades. The lead clone smirked before he formed a seal that his maker had become famous for.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Hundreds and hundreds of clones had suddenly been made, causing Snow to look at the clones around him in shock, before dismissing it easily, and allowing a cocky grin to grace his face.

"Nice! That'll help things out easily!" Snow laughed before the army of clones and the army of soldiers met, the clones charging aiming to punch and kick the lives out of the soldiers, while the soldiers used their guns to try and shoot all of the clones. More than a few of the clones were shot at first, killing them quickly but soon the soldiers were running out of bullets, and the clones took advantage of this fact and to beat the hell out of them.

"Wait! No! No!" One of the soldiers started screaming and tried to retract only to ran into one of the clones in the air and have his neck snapped accidentally killing his instantly. Suddenly the soldiers were given more reinforcements as Snow was now using his fists to pummel the soldiers with ease, he lost count after 10 soldiers, but he knew that he was getting tired, mostly because of the fact that he had been using most of his energy to try and dig Serah out.

"This isn't good." One of the clones remarked as the 20 clones that were left found themselves and Snow surrounded by over 50 soldiers, the odds not looking good.

"Try to blow up then!" Another clone told them.

"Right!" Just as Snow dropped to his knees, the clones charged forward and started blowing themselves up causing a lot of the soldiers to die, but some had managed to kill the clones before they could blow up. The survivors were now in front of Snow, waiting for something to happen, for the man to suddenly get back up and start fighting them again. But it was Snow who did anything, his L'Cie brand suddenly started shining, much to everyone's surprise before a seal appeared in thin air.

"What's he doing?"

"Watch yourself!"

"Stay alert!"

The circle of light started getting bigger and bigger before it exploded into shards of ice to release two women who had wheels on the back of their heads. Suddenly they launched one of their wheels at the soldiers which spun in midair as it came close to them, unleashing an icy wind which killed all of the remaining soldiers. The remaining clone and his brother looked on in shock wondering just what was going one.

"What's happening?" Snow asked looking on in shock. Up above, a black haired woman dressed in blue looked on, with several men with her, armed to the teeth. The two women looked at Snow and got into a fighting position with their wheel, which caused Snow to back away defensively, wondering just how he was going to deal with this. Suddenly a spell was placed on Snow and the blond suddenly felt as if his life was being sucked away by something, there was something that was making him weaker and he didn't know what it was.

_Steelguard ... use Steelguard ... use Steelguard._

Snow really didn't know what he was hearing, but he wasn't about to dismiss the words in his head as a sign of going crazy.

"Steelguard!" Snow shouted causing him to glow yellow, just as one of the women attacked him with the bike wheel, his eyes widen in surprise when he didn't feel that much pain from the attack, when he knew that he had witnessed the soldiers killed by the wheel itself. He also noticed that something was happening to the woman as well.

"Libra!" Snow shouted this time, and data started to flood through his mind and when he spotted a vital piece of information, his eyes widen in surprise.

_Yields to those who amass chain bonuses._

_Yields to those who defend against and endure attacks._

Snow had somehow managed to get this information on the women before him, the Shiva Sisters, Nix and what he was going to do with the information he didn't know. He gasped out suddenly, feeling himself getting even weaker and he couldn't stop it for some reason.

"Blizzard!" Snow shouted as he launched a beam of ice at the sister attacking him, Nix. Suddenly he charged and tried punching the blue skinned woman with ice-powered strikes. Before he was suddenly launched off of his feet by Nix, who had used the wheel that she controlled to spin into his gut and send him smashing into the air, causing him to gasp in pain, realizing just how much he had been let off when he had been hit beforehand.

"You getting this?" Naruto's lead clone asked his brother, who was watching the fight with a close eye.

"Yeah, boss needs to see this, doesn't he?" The other clone replied.

"Yeah."

"Steelguard!" Snow shouted, just as the woman tried her attack again, which made sure that Snow didn't get sent flying this time, but the pain wasn't there anymore either thanks to Stiria healing him so some reason. Snow was confused beyond belief, but that didn't stop him from trying to stay alive. Suddenly Snow spotted a chance and as Nix was about to hit him, he dodged to the side and slammed his fist into her face, followed by two Froststrikes, only to suddenly have a hand push him in the air, making his eyes widen in surprise.

"Blizzard!" Snow snapped as he launched three beams of ice at the woman while flying back in midair, which all hit her. Snow landed on his back, panting heavily, but still feeling his life being sucked away from him. He managed to pull himself to his feet, only to find himself blocking another attack from Nix, causing him to grunt in pain.

"S-Steelguard." Snow barely got out, but it was more than enough to help his cause as another attack from the wheel was launched and he managed to impress the two sisters enough to heal him quickly, before they suddenly started to change form. They floated into the air and started to turn into a motorbike before Snow's very eyes. He grinned and hopped on board and started the engine before he did a few spins trying to show off his skills.

"That doesn't feel right." Naruto's lead clone admitted, before he looked up and saw some people coming down, just as Snow collapsed. "Shit."

"The Twin Sisters." A woman with long black hair, wearing a blue dress mused as she approached Snow. "Got to hand it to you for taking 'em down, but don't gloat just yet. Might come a time you wish you'd let 'em end it, and made things easy." The woman told Snow as she pointed her red staff at the man. Snow opened his eyes and rolled onto his stomach, before he looked at the woman, who raised her eyebrow, her name was Fang. Snow panted a bit, before he managed to caught his breath enough to say some words.

"More of you, huh?" Snow asked as some more men arrived on the scene, one of them wasn't wearing a helmet while the others were. He had shoulder-length brown hair.

"He's an L'Cie. Take him." Fang ordered, causing the men to point their guns at Snow.

"Back off!" Snow hissed out, not showing any fear despite the fact he had numerous guns pointing at him, ready to blow his brains out.

"You want to keep breathing?" Fang asked, before she kneeled down to Snow's level and slipping her finger under his chin to force him to look at her in the eye, not feeling even a bit of sympathy for him. "Shut up and come quiet." Snow forced his head away from Fang's hand, much to her annoyance. So she simply backhanded the blond in the face, which at his weak position caused him to the ground landing on his back.

"What now?" Naruto's clone asked his brother.

"Wait until they load Serah up." The lead clone told his brother. "Then dismiss yourself, I'm gonna turn into one of them chicks that Sazh had in his hair."

"Got it."

* * *

Sometime later a ship was coming down from the sky to the scene where Snow was currently out of it.

"Bring her this way!"

"Careful now!"

"Come on!"

The crystallized Serah was being taken along to the landing ship, which Snow was being taken by two of the men that were helping out with the task. It was at this moment that he came to, and saw that his crystallized fiancé was being taken away.

"Serah." Snow uttered suddenly. "Serah!" Snow cried out not too sure what he was meant to do.

"Shut up." One of the men ordered Snow, while pointing his gun at the blond, trying to intimidate him.

"Stand down." Fang ordered, as she pushed the gun away from Snow, having walked back to see what was going on, before she pointed her thumb to the ship, which the men carrying Snow nodded to. They started to lead the tall blond to their ship, but not before he noticed that Fang had a white L'Cie brand on her shoulder.

"You too? Why are you helping them?" Snow asked the woman, who had crossed her arms by this point.

"If I were you, I'd worry about myself." Fang answered, not giving Snow an answer for his question.

* * *

They were blasting off, but they had more than a bit of company, being stalked by airships wanting to blast you out of the sky was never fun, that much Sazh knew as he controlled the ship, especially when other ships from above fired lasers from above hoping to kill you.

"Awww no!" Sazh shouted, as the ship vibrated due to the shockwave of the attacks, it was surprising that Naruto hadn't woken up yet.

"Give me that!" Lightning demanded as she grabbed hold of the controls.

"What!" Sazh didn't like the idea, but suddenly the guns of the ship was being fire and one of the ships that was firing lasers from above found itself being destroyed by numerous bullets.

"Did we get 'em?" Vanille asked eagerly, as they shot out from the hole that they had been inside of.

"We got one of them." Lightning admitted, not sounding too pleased with the current situation.

"They're still behind us!" Hope cried out, knowing that they were being chased by numerous other airships. Lightning was controlling the ship around the place dangerously, making Vanille and Hope scream in panic. Naruto blinked several times before he got a look of his surrounding and started screaming as well, but not knowing just why he was screaming.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Konan snapped. "It's not helping."

"Where the fuck are we!" Naruto demanded angrily, the last thing he remembered was fighting that Garuda Interceptor, and now they were flying in the air? It was too much of a change in such a short time.

"Hey! I said stop!" Sazh snapped at Lightning, before he smacked her hand away from the controls. "You want to die?" Sazh asked angrily.

"Nobody answered my question!" Naruto complained angrily.

"We're flying! Flying to get out of those ruins alive! Happy now?" Lightning snapped angrily at the blond.

"I would be if you weren't such an angry bitch all the time!" Naruto lashed out at the pink haired woman.

"I might not be an 'angry bitch' all the time if you weren't being a complete moron all the time!" Lightning growled.

"You've only known me for a day at least! You've always been like this as far as I can tell!" Naruto shouted back, the sparks could be seen flying between their eyes.

"Stop your bitching and let me concentrate!" Sazh shouted, not looking back at the two, while Konan grabbed both of them by their collars and forced them into their seats, making both of them blink in surprise and wondering just HOW she had done that in the first place.

"How are you gonna lose them?" Hope asked sounding panicky at the moment, most likely because he knew that he could die at any moment and he could do nothing to stop it.

"You've got me, kid!" Sazh admitted that he didn't know either.

"Then let me!" Lightning requested.

"Why can't I try?" Naruto asked.

"No thank you! And do you know how to control one of these things, Naruto?" Sazh told them.

"No." Naruto admitted, pouting since he knew what the answer would be.

"Then, hell no!" Suddenly they entered a bright light, causing Naruto to cry out about how it hurt his eyes, while Konan covered hers as well. Suddenly they could see the beams of the bullets being fired by the other airships. "They're still on us?" Sazh asked, before he dived down to try and lose them, one of the ships could be seen flying over the airship that they had been in, the vibrations wasn't helping Sazh's concerns in any way possible. "We're taking hits!"

"You guys okay?" Naruto asked Hope and Vanille, who nodded at the same time, before they saw that they were flying down towards a canyon like area. Sazh pulled up in time to avoid smashing into the waterbed, while two of the ships following them smashed into the water, but there was still two other following them.

"Come on, give me a break!" Sazh shouted as he carefully and skilfully managed to avoid taking any more hits. "Hang on!" Sazh shouted, before he suddenly fired some bullets at a small gap, which he managed to squeeze through before they rocks fell and crushed them all, their chasers were not so lucky. Sazh flew the ship up high in the sky, thinking that they were now safe from being killed, for now at least anyway.

* * *

Sazh sighed to himself and slammed his fist against the counter in front of him and leaned forwards into the screen that had suddenly popped up.

"For the love of all that's good!" Sazh complained, not noticing the electric current going through his afro, before he suddenly leaned back, looking confused.

"Next, an update on the status of the Purge." There was suddenly a broadcast being shown on screens ahead of them. "Just moments ago, the Sanctum announced the successful conclusion of the Purge ... along with the safe arrival of the Cocoon migrants to their new homes on Pulse." The blond haired lady on the screen reported, causing Sazh not to look impressed, before he pressed a screen.

"Yes, that is correct. There's no denying the enormity of the strain the Purge has placed on us all. But, given the tens of millions of lives at stake, there truly was no alternative." An old looking man announced on the screen suddenly.

"Primarch Dysley stood by the move, stressing the necessity of the relocation. When asked about the possibility of future Purges, the Primarch remained noncommittal ... stating only that he'd seek counsel with the Fal'Cie Eden and weigh all options before making a decision." A male with brown hair and orange sunglasses continued reporting on the current events.

"Yeah, that's right. If it makes the Sanctum look back, it never happened." Sazh sighed, causing both Naruto and Konan to frown in distaste and disgust, almost starting to see why they had been sent here in the first place now. Vanille simply touched the screen and up popped Dysley again.

"In all the centuries since the War of Transgression ... Cocoon has been spared Pulse aggression, and prospered for it. It is essential that we maintain this peace. This is the Sanctum's Focus. We will continue employing every resource available to combat these threats to harmony of our society." Dysley continued his little speech.

"Meaning, we'll be running for the rest of our lives." Sazh told everyone.

"That sounds a bit boring, running away." Naruto admitted.

"Hey." Vanille called out suddenly. "Umm, who is this guy?" Vanille asked, causing Sazh to sigh in annoyance.

"I mean, what do they teach kids these days?" Sazh asked out loud. "He's Galenth Dysley. The Sanctum Primarch. Murderer-in-chief."

"Just another tool for the Fal'Cie." Lightning announced.

"... nearly ninety percent of Cocoon citizens agree with the Sanctum's handling of the Purge. Seventy percent of respondents said that they would also support additional Purges, were the need to arise."

"Let's Purge everyone. That'll fix it!" Sazh complained, before an alarm went off and a flashing red light started flashing.

* * *

They were being chased again; more airships had found them and were now trying to shoot them down.

"Points for perseverance!" Sazh announced, before he had to cover his eyes due to a bright light. Suddenly they could see that there was flying thing in the sky.

"Wow." Vanille looked at the thing in awe, wondering just how it ended up being beautiful.

"The hell is that thing?" Naruto asked sounding surprised.

"A Sanctum Fal'Cie up close and personal. Cocoon's own light in the sky." Sazh explained with a smile on his face, only to cringe when he felt the ship getting hit once more. "Here we go again."

"Fly in!" Lightning requested, making Naruto and Konan look at the woman, wondering just what she was thinking, they were after all at their weakest here, because of the fact that they never had any technology like this. "We'll lose them in there."

Sazh took Lightning's advice on the matter and flew straight into the direction of the Fal'Cie, the electricity made things very difficult, but it helped them as well as one of the ships chasing them got destroyed.

"I like this Fal'Cie!" Sazh announced, trying his hardest to keep control.

"There's more of them!" Vanille cried out to Sazh, before suddenly the ship they were in got shot in the side, it was more than enough to cause the airship that they were in to lose flight.

"FOR FUCK SAKE!" Naruto screamed as they fall down below.

"STOP SWEARING FOR ONCE!"

* * *

He was lying in a hospital bed, eyes shut tight, despite what the doctors tried to do, nothing could seem possible for him to get some colour on him.

"How is he?" Jihl asked as she walked into the room.

"Very good, if you don't count the fact he doesn't seem to want to wake up doesn't help." The lead doctor told the woman.

"Very good, very good indeed." Jihl admitted, as she looked at the man in question, who was currently straggling one of the doctors that he gotten too close. "What did you make of his clothing?"

"It was very interesting, something that is really actually." The lead doctor. "On this person, we found a cloak that was black with red cloud in it."

* * *

That's chapter 6 done! We are now out of Lake Bresha!

Yea, I'm still a little lost as to how I have ended up taking so long for each update nowadays, it feels really weird, mostly because I'm actually planning ahead for each story that I'm doing now and it conflicts with what I'm currenly writing at the time.

Either way, I bet you're wondering if Sasuke is gonna be in this fic or not, right. Well, the truth is ... I'm not telling!

Also, who do you think that person was? The one that was found by Jihl and her squad. Just a friendly little question.

A random fact that I would like to celebrate over. First Naruto / Final Fantasy XIII Crossover to reach 200 reviews! Yay!

* * *

Here are the current pairings.

Naruto x Lightning

Sazh x Konan

Snow x Serah

Hope x Vanille

Yes, I've officially added it now, Hope x Vanille will be happening.

Also, I managed to mess up Konan's age big time, how I really don't know, guess it was lack of info at the time.

* * *

Anyway, I've started making Omakes more often their not lately, and I'm going to leave one for you tonight.

Omake - The Super Spies

Lightning frowned as she hid behind the corner, spying on Snow and Serah on a date, wondering just what was going on and being said.

"What are you doing, Lightning?" Naruto asked as he appeared out of nowhere, almost causing Lightning to scream as she jumped in surprise.

"I'm trying to see what makes Serah see so much in Snow." Lightning hissed out, before she hit Naruto. "That was for scaring me."

"Right, so you say." Naruto frowned, but joined in anyway, little did he know, that he and Lightning were being spied on as well.

"Vanille, why are we spying on them?" Hope asked, sighing as he did so.

"Because I want to see how they ended up in an arguement, but yet keep their relationship intact." Vanille admitted, frowning

"I really don't get it, that's just no point."Hope sighed, rubbing his eyes, as he had been woken up last than an hour ago.

"Libra!" Vanille hissed out suddenly, causing Hope to look at her in shock.

"You can't be serious, trying to get information by using that techique at all." Hope gaped at Vanille.

"Well, almost got to feel like laughing again." Konan sighed almost happily.

"Doesn't feel right spying on these kids though." Sazh sighed to himself.

"It's much more fun than we we have going on." Konan smirked.

"I guess."

It was almost as if everyone was being spied on ... again.

Snow sighed to himself, before he held out his hand for Serah.

"You do realize that we're being spied on, right?" Snow asked.

"Of course I do, I saw Lightning and Naruto from miles away." Serah told Snow.

"Oh ... nevermind then."

"Though Lightning was the one who was leading the spying, Naruto seems to be there to make sure she doesn't do anything that would ruin our date." Serah told Snow.

"Cool, I better thank him soon."

"Yep."

"... Did you get any pictures of Naruto and Lightning making out without us knowing that we could see them?"

"Got the whole thing on video."

"I love blackmailing information."

* * *

Be sure to review before you leave and to use the poll on my profile.

Well, until the next chapter, goodbye and goodnight.


	7. Beginning of Vile Peaks

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, this is a challenge given to me by N.A.B. 0206

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

Beginning of Vile Peaks

* * *

The Ages of the Group

Sazh - 40

Konan - 35

Lightning and Snow - 21

Vanille - 19

Naruto - 16

Hope - 14

* * *

It was night time and the wreckage of the aircraft that had been used by the L'Cie was now currently burning at the rear engines. The poor machine looked completely and utterly destroyed. Naruto slowly opened his eyes and blinked, wondering why the surface seemed a bit softer than it should have been. It was when he heard a growling sound from underneath him did he look down to see that he had one of his hands firmly resting on Lightning's breasts and that the woman in question was glaring daggers at him. Naruto didn't even get the chance to retract before he was punched in the face by the pink haired woman, Naruto didn't complain though.

"Sorry, Lightning." All he did was apologize, as a bruise started to try and break its way to his skin, only to fade away as quickly as it had appeared. Hope was laying face down right next to them on their right, while Sazh was laying to their left, with Vanille on his right side and Konan on his left, starting to get to her knees as well, shaking her head to try and clear her blurry vision.

"Hey." Lightning seemed to have ignored Naruto's apology and looked at Hope, and almost seemed to hope that he would soon wake up.

"We've got company." Naruto called out to the two women who were awake, causing them to look up and spot some Pantherons that had made their way into the area, eyeing up the L'Cie like they were just food in their eyes.

"Didn't know that there could be so many of these creatures in a pack." Konan mused as she created a several kunai blades out of paper, while Naruto shoved his hand into his pouch, only for his eyes to widen when he realized that they had all gone, he no longer had any real weaponry. He cringed as he allowed his hands to glow a light blue, he didn't want to waste chakra like this, but he had to kill these creatures if they were to get out of this alive. Naruto, Lightning and Konan entered a staring contest with the Pantherons.

"Think the others are awake yet?" Naruto asked the two women as they stared cautiously at the creatures that for some reason hadn't attacked yet.

"Hey! Wake up!" They heard Vanille cry. "You've got to wake up! Look!"

"I'd say she is." Konan told Naruto.

"Hm." Lightning just grunted, not really caring too much about the situation.

"Hey! Slow down!" Sazh shouted at Vanille, before both of them ended up standing with the three experienced fighters.

"Ready!" Vanille told them, holding her ready in place.

"Got to help keep you kids safe, right?" Sazh asked, causing Naruto to roll his eyes at the older man.

"Do what you want. I'd kill them off with ease with just my bare hands!" Naruto growled, smirking widely as he charged at the Pantherons, just as they charged at him as well, trying to slash at them with their claws. Naruto jumped over one of them and slammed his foot into the skull of the creature, the sickening crunch of bones breaking could be heard from the impact. Lightning was meanwhile slicing through several of the dog like creatures with ease as if they weren't even there. Konan was launched paper kunai after paper kunai, embedding the creatures with several razor sharp paper blades, which flew back to Konan to be used over and over again. Sazh was using his guns and magic, while Vanille was using her rod and magic, and Hope, who had just joined in the fun, was using his boomerang and magic as well. When the fighting was over, Vanille let out one of the biggest sighs of relief that Naruto had ever heard.

"Glad that's over." Vanille announced as she went off the side, with Naruto giving her a really strange look after she moaned. Sazh had a tired look, while Lightning merely put her gunblade back in its case. Konan shook her head, wondering just what they were going to do now. Vanille moaned again, causing Naruto to give her an even stranger look.

"What a fucking orgasm." Naruto pointed out, causing Vanille to blush brightly, wondering if she had just sounded like she was having that.

"Man, I'm beat." Sazh sighed, just ignoring what Naruto said.

"Well, I'm hungry." Naruto grinned happily as he sat down with his legs crossed and pulled up his sleeve to reveal a seal on his arm, which exploded in a puff of smoke, to reveal ... a ramen cup.

"You stored an instant ready ramen in your arm!" Konan asked in disbelief, while everyone else, even Lightning, gave Naruto a look of disbelief.

"Already cooked." Naruto told the blue haired woman, as if it was the greatest thing in the world with a bright grin, before he started digging in eagerly.

"I can't believe that you managed to beat Nagato." Konan shook her head, wondering just how the blond managed to be so strong, yet do things so stupid, it made her consider his intelligence. Hope meanwhile, couldn't believe that he was actually beginning to idolize the blond, some of the things that he did was just so out of this world, it was almost brilliant, other times he could be the stupidest person that he knew, well apart from Snow anyway. Lightning scoffed before she started walking off.

"What, no break?" Sazh asked the pink haired woman, he paused for a moment.

"They're tracking us." Lightning reminded them forcefully, while Naruto finished his cup of instant ramen and let out a sigh of happiness.

"I know that. I know that, but we aren't soldiers! We don't have your kind of stamina." Sazh reminded Lightning.

"I do!" Naruto pointed out happily, smiling away happily, the fact that he just had some ramen helped.

"You don't count." Sazh told Naruto bluntly.

"Actually, Naruto has at least twice the stamina that an average soldier does." Konan suddenly pointed out, causing Lightning to freeze in her tracks, seemingly shocked by the information that Konan was giving her. She turned to the Jinchuriki.

"Naruto, you're definitely coming with me now." Lightning told the blond, who blinked, before he jumped to his feet, already feeling energized. "Sazh, you're got enough stamina to complain."

"Oh, that's – forget it!" Sazh paused before snapping at the pink haired woman as she and Naruto went off on their own little journey, Naruto looking like he knew something was going to happen, while Lightning looked annoyed.

"I think, um ..." Hope started, but seemed to be unable to find the words.

"I'd stick with her if I were you." Sazh advised the young boy, who seemed lost at what he should be doing.

"Later, then." Hope told them, before he ran off in the direction that Lightning and Naruto had gone off in. Sazh looked at where the boy had gone, only to shake his head wondering what there was to actually do. Vanille looked up and saw Konan staring at them expectantly, almost as if telling them to hurry up. Vanille decided that this was the right time to get up.

"Come on. Let's get going." Vanille told Sazh, who looked up to see that Konan was also giving him a look telling him to 'get going' as well.

"Get going to where, exactly?" Sazh asked looking at Hope, who had started being pulled up what appeared to be a mechanical by Naruto. "The whole of Cocoon's against us. No matter how far we run, there's no escape. That Cie'th clock, it's still a-tickin'."

"There's still time." Vanille reminded the 40 year old. "You give up to easy, old man!"

"You're too disrespectful." Konan pointed out, looking away in annoyance, she was only 5 years younger than Sazh was, from what he had told them so far.

"I'm not giving up. But there are some things that you just can't change. A kid like you would not understand." Sazh told Vanille, while Konan looked away, looking at where Naruto had gone off as both he and Hope jumped the machine they were on out of her view, a slight smile grace her lips.

'_Not everyone applies to that rule Sazh, not everyone applies to it.'_

"Yeah, I'm a kid! I don't understand!" Vanille agreed sarcastically as she turned away from the old man, crossing her arms in what appeared to be annoyance.

"Well, I guess we can be fugitives together." Sazh offered suddenly to the girls, before he accidentally stumbled into Vanille. "You ready?"

"Ready!" Vanille agreed excitedly before she started pushing Sazh to hopefully make the trip faster. Konan merely followed at her own pace, knowing that Naruto would be looking after Lightning and Hope, while she looked after Vanille and Sazh. As they got to the bridge where the others had gone over, the machine that Naruto had helped Hope over started rolling down the hill, taking down the bridge with it, causing a massive splash in the water below.

"End of the road." Sazh sighed, shaking his head.

"But at least it's not the end of the line!" Vanille tried to cheer Sazh up.

"..." Konan didn't say anything at first. "Makes me wonder how Naruto's doing with the others." Konan muttered under her breath.

* * *

Lightning wondered if taking Naruto with her was a good idea, he had sent a clone back to the machine that they had gotten over, knowing that someone would be catching up soon. Naruto seemed to have calmed down as well, almost completely having a mood swing or something, it actually made her worried if the fact he had been hit by those three rocks may have loosened something in his head.

"Just you?" Lightning asked as she heard Hope's footsteps, attempting to catch up with her and Naruto.

"For now, I guess." Hope admitted. "Should we wait?"

"They'll catch up, eventually." Lightning told the silver haired boy, as she saw Naruto's clone with them as well.

"Don't worry too much, Hope." The original Naruto told the younger boy, smiling at him to try and keep him comfortable, it wouldn't do if the boy was feeling like something bad was going to happen. "Everything will be alright."

"Yea, even now I feel like dancing away to the tune that is running through my head." Naruto's clone added, causing everyone to give the clone a strange look. "What?"

"..." Naruto didn't say anything at first. "Did you just make me look insane again?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you said 'Dancing away to the tune that is running through my head', that makes people look at you insane and because you're MY clone, they'll think that I'm insane!" Naruto snapped at the clone. "You know what? Don't answer that!" Naruto punched the clone, causing it to explode in a puff of smoke. The boy looked extremely frustrated now.

"..." Lightning merely started at the blond, still wondering if she had made the right choice to bring him along, while Hope gave the boy that he was beginning to idolize a really worried look.

"I'm not insane!" Naruto snapped quickly.

"Never said that you were, just wondering if bringing you along was actually a good idea or not." Lightning admitted to what she was thinking. Naruto was meanwhile giving her a deadpanned look, wondering why he was suddenly tempted to do something that he knew that he might regret. Naruto growled before he created a Rasenshuriken in his right hand and launched into the distance, before the group of three heard loud roars of pain. They ran towards where they had heard the roars of pain, to find two Pantherons and a green version of it in two separate pieces. Lightning took this as a chance to use the Libra spell on the remains of the creature to see how strong it was.

"Capable of bestowing Bravery?" Lightning muttered to herself, the woman looked confused as to how it was possible for such a thing to happen.

"It could be ... because of this war cry ability that it has." Naruto suggested, making Lightning look at the blond, while Hope seemed to be focusing as well, having just figured out how to do the spell.

"If only I could do a spell like that." Hope muttered under his breath, wondering if he could help somehow. "I wonder if there's a spell called 'Protect'." Hope wondered causing Naruto to blink when he was suddenly covered in a shield of some sorts that shined brightly before fading away. Naruto looked at himself curiously, before he kicked a rock without using his Sage Mode, expecting to get a lot of pain, but much to his surprise, he barely felt a thing.

"What in the world?" Naruto uttered, looking at Hope in surprise, realizing that only he could have done something like that out of the blue, without even knowing just what he had done. Naruto felt a grin make its way over his face, if Hope could get that ability working and get some other spells as well than they would be unstoppable, despite all of the problems, even bullets wouldn't be able to stop them from doing much, unless that got to a vital area, which Naruto would make sure didn't happen. "I wonder." Naruto looked at his hand as well, wondering if HE could do such a thing as well. "Lightning, look at me for a second will ya?"

"What do you want Naruto?" Lightning raised an eyebrow at him, giving off an annoyed expression.

"Haste!" Naruto smirked at Lightning as he pointed at her, causing her to glow.

"What did you just do?" Lightning snapped, only for her eyes to widen in surprise when she suddenly found herself in front of Naruto after a mere step. "The hell?"

"Hope made me figure something out, after he cast a spell on me, called 'Protect', it gave an idea to see if we may have some more spells and it turns out that we do." Naruto explained suddenly, causing Hope's eyes to widen at the fact that he had managed to cause this to happen in the first place, the very idea that he had accidentally cast a spell on Naruto surprised him easily.

"..." Lightning stared at Hope for a moment, before she turned away. "Maybe you do have your uses." The pink haired soldier announced as she jumped up to a steel ramp ahead, while Naruto and Hope stared after her. Hope slowly grew a smirk on his face.

"This is great, all according to plan." Hope smirked before he followed Lightning, while Naruto stared a bit longer, before blood suddenly dripped down his nose.

"I saw her panties." Naruto giggled suddenly before he remembered what he had just seen, and jumped after the L'Cie. "I feel happy." Naruto jumped after his two travelling companions, only to find that Lightning had sliced up some Watchdrones. "Having fun over there?" Naruto asked.

"..." Lightning looked at Naruto for a moment, before shrugging. "Depends on what your definition of fun is."

"Oh I don't know, beating the shit out of stuff, breaking things and destroying machines, that kind of stuff, you know?" Naruto casually told Lightning, wrapping an arm around the soldier's shoulder, causing her eyes to narrow.

"Oh, then I am having fun. Now you better take your arm off of me, or else I'll slice it off!" Lightning growled dangerously, causing Naruto to quickly take his off of the pink haired woman, knowing that she may fully well go through with her threat. Thankfully for Naruto's sake, they all found some enemies ahead of them for Lightning to slice up and kill in some Watchdrones and a Thextron.

"Are you feeling better now?" Naruto asked Lightning, only to receive a glare in response, causing the boy to sweat drop slightly. "I'll take that as a no then." Naruto looked more than slightly concerned at that one. He was at least hoping that he wouldn't be glared at this time. The group of L'Cie could suddenly hear clanking from up ahead, causing them to look a little cautious, only to be surprised when they saw a clanking humanoid machine walking around. It looked somewhat rusty and had a least one arm, which ended in a long pincer, but that was about the most dangerous thing about the machine.

"You know about this thing, Lightning?" Naruto asked the pink haired woman, as she drew her gunblade, knowing that this would be a long fight without any information.

"No, doesn't look like anything that you would see on Cocoon, looks like a Pulse creation." Lightning explained.

"So everything here is just a scrap yard from Pulse then? From the War of Transgression I take it?" Hope asked, causing Naruto to look blank. "We'll explain it later." Hope offered as Lightning charged at the robot and sliced it with her gunblade, only for nothing to happen, causing Lightning's eyes to widen. Lightning was about to get sliced at by the robot's Pincers, only to be replaced by Naruto, who got slashed instead, only to pop in a cloud of smoke to reveal that he was a Shadow Clone.

"I swear all I've been doing is saving you lately, Lightning." Naruto smirked at the woman as he held her in his arms, while she looked at the robot with wide eyes, only to glare at Naruto and force her way out of his arms.

"Libra!" Lightning growled as she pointed at the machine that was currently clanking its way towards them, flexing its pincer like arm dangerously. "Has really strong defence against Physical and Magical attacks! No wonder my attack didn't seem to affect it that much." Lightning growled dangerously. "And Lightning attacks are strong against it." Lightning smirked cruelly as her gunblade suddenly came to life with electricity powering it up immensely, causing Naruto's eyes to widen at the control she had over the attack that she was preparing. Naruto created some shadow clones which charged at the machine, only for one of them to be slashed in half by the Pulsework Soldier and the other to get through its defences and to kick up at it, causing the top half of the machine to raise itself to reveal a core, much to Naruto's surprise. Lightning had by now already charged and used her Sparkstrike to slice through the machine's core, causing the machine to twitch violently before it fell into two pieces and collapsed completely. Naruto's clones disappeared causing the boy to scratch his head in annoyance, while Hope looked on, feeling more than a bit helpless.

"That was ... somewhat expected." Naruto mused, causing Lightning to glare at the boy, while Hope looked depressed. "Lightning to snap I mean." Naruto added suddenly, causing the pink haired woman glare at him even harder. "I'm just pissing you off even more, aren't I?"

"Yes." Lightning growled dangerously, while Naruto took a few steps back, whistling innocently as he did so, before he jumped over the edge, causing Lightning and Hope to rush to where Naruto had jumped, only to looked annoyed and relieved respectively when they saw Naruto waving up to them cheerfully. Lightning then jumped down, quickly followed by Hope, who was hoping that he could at least stop Lightning from attempting to attack Naruto again.

"This looks like a dead end." Naruto pointed out, while Hope started panting, trying to catch his breath after all of the running that they had been doing, before he sat down on a rock, while Lightning eyed up the giant wall in front of them.

"Can we get through this way, you think?" Hope asked suddenly, hoping for at least an answer from Lightning on the subject. "You ... know where you're going, right?"

"I've been here on missions before." Lightning admitted suddenly, focusing more on the wall before her than anything else at the moment.

"Missions? Nothing to do with the Purge, though?" Hope asked, while Naruto looked at Lightning, with a curious expression on his face as well.

"The Purge is PSICOM's baby." Lightning admitted, as she looked at Hope and Naruto. "Our military is split into two arms." Lightning started to explain as she reached a higher perch of rock. "The Public Security and Intelligence Command known as PSICOM and the Guardian Corps. I was Guardian Corps, Bodhum Security Regiment." Lightning explained the military, while Naruto just seemed more confused than before, not knowing anything about Bodhum or the Purge or even what the two arms of the military did.

"Wait, but I don't get it." Hope announced suddenly. "If you're not PSICOM, then why did you board the train?" Hope asked, while Naruto only knew what a train was, just not what it was needed for in this at the moment. Lightning looked at Naruto and Hope, and her answer was nice and simple, and something that finally made sense for Naruto for the first time since this conversation started.

"For Serah."

For Naruto, that answer made so much sense, seeing at Serah was Lightning's sister and that they had found Serah in the Vestige, something which they could only have reached if they had gone on this Purge from what they were saying, he also could tell that Lightning was the type of person to risk everything and do anything if it meant that her sister would be safe, but he could also tell that Lightning had to listen to logic as well, so she could come back later to see if there was anything that she could do to heal her sister.

"You're telling me you got on that train so you could save your sister?" Hope asked the pink haired soldier, before he looked down. "That's crazy. I could never do something like that."

Lightning looked down at the silver haired boy.

"It's not a question of can or can't." Lightning looked back up to the wall once more. "There are some things that you just do.

"Easy for someone like you to say." Hope told her, looking at his shoes in a depressed manner. This caused Lightning to sigh, and she suddenly started jumping up the wall with incredible ability.

"Lightning!" Naruto shouted as he created a shadow clone. "You stay with Hope, I'm going after Lightning." Naruto told his clone, who nodded and looked at a shocked looking Hope, the hurt in his eyes was clear. "I'm not abandoning you Hope, I'm just making sure that Lightning doesn't do anything stupid, okay?" Hope seemed to accept this answer. "Alright, I'll be seeing you later." Naruto told the boy, before he ran up the wall, causing Hope's eyes to widen in shock as he watched this, and jumped after Lightning, who seemed to scream in shock at seeing Naruto do this.

"So she left me." Hope sighed as he sat down on his rock again, looking depressed about what just happened.

"Trust me Hope. I know just how you feel." Naruto's clone told the boy who was practically having dark rainy clouds above his head about what just happened.

"You probably don't." Hope muttered, causing the clone to sigh in annoyance.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto suddenly came flying down from above and landed in front of them with a loud crack being heard, causing Naruto's clone to cringe at the sight of his maker having a broken neck, only to him to disappear in a cloud of smoke, causing the clone's eyebrow to twitch violently.

"What part of 'stop trying to kill me' don't you seem to understand!" Naruto could be heard shouting.

"What part of 'stop being an annoying bastard' don't you understand!" Lightning could be heard shouting back.

"That's no excuse!"

"This is going to be a long journey, I just see it." Naruto's clone sighed, looking as depressed at Hope now.

* * *

Back with Konan, Vanille and Sazh, the orange haired girl was currently counting to herself and pulling herself onto a machine, while Konan watched, wondering why she hadn't just forced them to just get a move on.

"What are you up to?" Sazh asked as he looked towards Vanille, only for his jaw to drop when he catch a good look of her backside as she crawled along the machine that she had just pulled herself onto. The Chocobo chick suddenly flew down so it was in front of his face, causing Sazh to shake his head violently to get himself back into his serious mode, only to find himself getting slapped in the face by Konan.

"She's half your age." Konan pointed out bluntly, causing Sazh to nod, knowing that he had been slapped for a good reason. "Let's just make sure she doesn't hurt herself." Konan sighed before she jumped up to where Vanille had reached with ease, causing Sazh's jaw to drop, only to remember that she and Naruto were not normal by their standards.

"Wait up!" Sazh called as he pulled himself up after a bit of effort. He looked ready to just collapse back to the ground when he realized just how far ahead both Vanille and Konan were of him. "I just can't keep up with these women!"

* * *

Sazh soon had managed to catch up with Vanille and Konan, only because had gotten Vanille to stop after she had realized that the older man couldn't keep up with them. They were now currently watching three Watchdrones and a Pulsework Soldier fighting each other. Sazh seem to realize that they needed to get to the machine that they were fighting in front of, as did Konan and surprisingly Vanille.

"That walking robot looks more powerful than the three Watchdrones we've come across so far." Konan muttered, before she casted a Libra spell on the machines, which confirmed her theory. "We'll need to team up with the Watchdrones until it's nearly dead and then go for the Watchdrones themselves."

"Right." Sazh and Vanille nodded.

"Lightning based attacks are strong against it." Konan let them know.

"Almost makes me wish that Grumpy was here to help us out, almost." Sazh admitted, causing Vanille to start giggling, while Konan rolled her eyes. "Though Naruto would be nice to have right now, even if he can be annoying at times."

"Thunder!" Konan muttered, as she pointed at the Pulsework Soldier ahead of them, causing it to twitch wildly, while the Watchdrones all used their Electrokick to attack the robot, which caused the robot from Pulse to slash wildly, catching one of the Watchdrones and slashing it into two pieces.

"I never knew that you could do the Thunder spell." Sazh admitted, sounding somewhat nervous.

"I just learnt it." Konan grumbled out as she stalked her way towards the robots.

"Crap." Sazh cursed under his breath, while Vanille watched with wide eyes as Konan sliced the Pulsework Soldier in two, by using her experience to easily find a weakness in its armour. The three Watchdrones didn't last too long either.

"That was so cool Konan!" Vanille called out, causing Sazh to turn and then drop his jaw in awe at the sight of Konan being surrounded by broken robots. Sazh may not have said it, but he was definitely happy to have Konan and wouldn't trade her for Naruto or Lightning in any day of the week.

"I'm glad that you're on our side, Konan." Sazh admitted, while the experience warrior of Ame looked at the two that she was travelling with, allowing a small smile to grace her lips.

'_Everything I do is for you, Nagato, Yahiko. Please, watch over me.'_ Konan thought. "I see, but do you know how to work that machine?" Konan asked the man, looking at the machine that seemed to be their only way out.

"Well, I've never seen a rig like this before." Sazh admitted as he looked at the machine, before he pulled the lever to the side. "Here we go." Sazh announced as the lights turned a blue colour before it shot out something which pulled a massive metal cylinder towards them. "Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sazh sounded like this wasn't such a good idea after all, only for the metal cylinder to stop at the machine he had activated. "... I knew that would happen."

"So you say." Konan actually looked amused before the three of them moved on. They saw two Thextrons battling against a Pulsework Soldier, and tried to avoid battling them, only to be catch up in the battle and have to end up destroying them (Konan destroyed the Pulsework Soldier, while Sazh and Vanille destroyed the Thextrons).

"Cocoon treats everything from Pulse as evil, doesn't it?" Vanille asked as they came across two Thextrons and three Watchdrones attacking a Pulsework Soldier, the three of them merely avoided the little fight, considering that they hadn't even seen them walking past. Sazh could see that he wouldn't be able to go through the metal fan with all of that junk in the way, so decided to see what he could do, by using the security code machine, hoping that it would get them out of the way.

"This should do it." Sazh mused, after he had pressed a few buttons. The fan twitched for a moment, before it literally blew all of the junk metal out of the way, causing Sazh to cry out in surprise. "Uh, piece of cake." Ahead of them there was a fight between three Thextrons and two Pulsework Soldiers, which caused Konan to throw a kunai with an exploding tag attached to it, causing it to explode in between all five of them and killing them all with ease.

"Hey, guys!" Vanille called out, as she spotted Hope and Naruto's clone sitting together by a rock.

"Hey." Naruto's clone waved, while Hope just ignored them, causing the clone to sigh in annoyance. "Be polite." Naruto nudged the boy gently, but was just ignored.

"Where's grumpy?" Sazh asked, causing Hope to look up and nod towards the wall, causing Konan to sigh in annoyance as well. "Got left behind, huh?"

"Naruto went as well, to follow her, just leaving a clone with me." Hope finally spoke, sounding hurt by what the blond had done.

"Because boss didn't want Lightning to do anything stupid, even if she tried to throw him over the wall at least once already." Naruto's clone grumbled in distaste, making Sazh and Vanille's eyes widen in surprise, while Konan muttered something under her breath.

"And Naruto didn't stay with Hope personally, why?" Konan growled at the clone, who shrugged.

"Must have figured that you'd catch up, but there's most likely because he didn't want Hope to try and climb that, like Lightning did." Naruto's clone admitted. "I'll let boss know what's happened." It quickly dispelled itself afterwards. Sazh meanwhile tried to comfort the boy, who quickly shrugged out of the touch.

"Leave me alone!" Hope cried, as he got out of Sazh's touch, causing the man to shake his hand. "This is pointless. Can't keep up. Can't get home. It's over for me." Vanille leaned down in front of him.

"It's _not_ over! We'll get you home!" Vanille tried to encourage him.

"I don't have one. Now that Mom is ..." Hope stopped in mid-sentence.

"What about your dad?" Vanille asked. Hope paused, deep in thought, before he explained about how he had been with his mother in Bodhum watching the fireworks, and how the very same night the soldiers had found the Vestige and how they had sealed off the area and that Hope and his mother couldn't get back home.

"They forced us onto the train like everyone else. My mom, she was frantic. She wanted to get us home, so she tried to fight." Hope explained, causing Konan to remember how she, Nagato and Yahiko used to be along with Jiraiya and how they would be with each other, like a family. "She got tricked, by Snow. He used her!" Konan was forced out of her memories when she heard that Snow had tricked Hope's mother, something that she knew the blond haired man wouldn't do, despite the fact he could be stupid at time, she could tell that Snow wouldn't use people like they were puppets to play with, he wouldn't use people lives like chess pieces. Despite the fact she barely knew the man. She could tell that Snow wasn't that type of person.

"Let's get you home, okay?" Vanille said. "Your dad's got to be worried!"

"Let him worry." Hope savagely replied. "Why should I care? He doesn't."

"Any father cares." Sazh admitted from the corner, causing everyone to turn to him. Konan was still wondering whether or not to tell Naruto about what Hope had been saying, or tell Hope that Naruto would be disappointed in what he was saying. However she could tell from Sazh's body language that he was a father, but couldn't see his child. A pain that a lot of parents suffered back home in the Elemental Nations, like most kids did as well.

"Sazh?" Vanille asked questioningly.

"It's nothing, forget it." Sazh told them as he walked over to a machine to examine if he could get it working or not. Konan watched him, before also watched the kids out of the corner or her eye as well, to make sure nothing happened to them. "This ought to do it." Sazh announced as he pulled a lever, which caused the machine to turn on and before they knew it, a ramp leading the top of the rock wall had been extended from the other side. "We've got time." Sazh addressed Hope. "We'll get you back home. Your dad will be happy to see you."

"Let's get moving and see if we can catch Naruto and Lightning as well, before they kill each other." Konan told them, reminding everyone of what type of relationship that the two of them seem to have at the moment. The four of them went up the ramp, and saw a Pulsework Soldier with a giant hole in the middle of its chest, amazingly enough, it seemed to be whimpering in pain, somehow still working despite the gigantic hole in its torso. Konan simply kill it off with a quick Thunder spell, while Vanille looked horrified, and Sazh looked spooked. Hope, seemed to be visualizing Snow in the same position, as he had a small smirk on his face. The path they continue to follow seemed to have been the same path that Naruto and Lightning had used, since it looked like a warpath, with another Pulsework Soldier in different pieces and two Incubuses (something that they identified with a Libra) sliced in two as well. They spotted something ahead of them.

"Isn't that a ..." Vanille started.

"A warship from Pulse." Sazh answered.

"You mean, they made it this far?" Vanille asked.

"Of course not." Sazh dismissed quickly. "Not during the war, not since. They might have tried. But none of their forces made it into Cocoon. They only damaged the outer rim. Then the Sanctum's Fal'Cie pushed them back. What, did you sleep in history?" Sazh explained, before he asked Vanille.

"More or less." Vanille laughed, while Konan smirked.

"I needed the history lesson as well, since I'm not from here and all."

"Of course."

"So, what's a ship from Pulse doing here?" Vanille asked.

"Once the war was over, people couldn't live near the rim anymore. In places like the Hanging Edge. So the Fal'Cie, they gathered up scrap from Pulse and used it for rebuilding here. This is what was left: a bunch of garbage." Hope explained this time, causing Konan to look thoughtful about the situation.

"Who'da thunk? A Pulse Fal'Cie and who-knows-what, mixed in with all the trash?" Sazh asked. Vanille looked a little nervous as he said this.

"Who'da thunk ..." Vanille repeated to herself quietly, looking uncomfortable, something that Konan caught, causing her to narrow her eyes slightly in suspicion. Vanille decided to go on ahead, causing Sazh to sigh in annoyance, but the man didn't need to worry, as once again, a war path was what greeted them, something about the war path didn't seem right for Konan though, it was almost as if something or someone had snapped and/or had a fight with someone, making Konan hope that Naruto and Lightning hadn't started trying to kill each other.

"I hope Snow's all right." Sazh muttered under his breath, seemingly avoiding the corpses of the creatures and robots now, almost as if he had gotten used to them already. When they all got to the platform, Lightning and Naruto dropped down in front of them, Naruto was grinning happily, while Lightning was frowning, with surprising a tint of pink colouring her cheeks.

"Hey, welcome to the party!" Sazh greeted them.

"You miss us?" Vanille asked the duo.

"I did! What about you Lightning?" Naruto answered their question, only for Lightning to snort and walk off. "Well, that's all we're gonna get out of her, I guess." Naruto scratched his head sheepishly.

"Would it kill her to smile?" Sazh asked Naruto, who shook his head.

"Not really, I've had numerous friends like her, all of them were like that at one point, but I mostly beat the shit out of them, and practically beat some sense into them, telling them that they were going about it the wrong way." Naruto admitted cheerfully, causing everyone to sweat drop, wondering just what kind of life he had been living so far. "Hopefully I won't have to beat the shit out of her, and hopefully she doesn't have a need for revenge, cause if she did." Naruto's grin turned sinister. "I would have to do something about it." That got Hope to pale pretty dramatically, hoping that Naruto didn't know that HE wanted revenge against Snow and wouldn't beat the hell out of him because of it.

"Why did you guys leave a war path anyway?" Konan asked, sounding annoyed.

"We were having a contest to see who could kill the most creatures." Naruto admitted cheerfully, causing everyone to face vault at the announcement. "But I still won. Now she has to do something for me in the future!"

"Are you coming or not?" Lightning called to them, causing the other to look at her. She looked somewhat annoyed at the fact that they were not moving, and the fact Naruto had told them what had happened as well seem to add to her annoyance.

"Right, let's get going." Konan suggested to the others, who all nodded, trying to block out the image of a chibi Naruto, holding a flag with 'Victory' written on it, gloating to a chibi Lightning, who was sulking elsewhere.

* * *

Being ambushed by Incubuses and Succubus were not cool in Naruto's eyes, but it didn't mean that they couldn't handle them or anything. It was just annoying. Sazh had tried to operate a machine to create a bridge so everyone could get over to where they needed, but had been attacked by those creatures, but now the creatures were dead and Sazh could use the machine without any interruptions.

"Here we go!" Sazh announced, after he pressed a few buttons, causing the ramp to appear and build a bridge. "Nothing to it!"

"You were just pressing a few buttons." Naruto deadpanned.

"Do you know how to use this machine?" Sazh asked sounding irritated, causing the blond to stay silent. "I thought so."

It didn't take too long for the group of six to get to a clearing, a clearing where there was a giant machine in the centre, a Dreadnought.

"What is that!" Sazh asked, as the giant machine moved towards them.

"Pulse armament." Lightning answered as she got her blade ready, Naruto gritted his teeth as he got himself ready to use his other attacks, while Konan looked more than a bit annoyed. The Dreadnought slammed one of its metal arms into several boxes, causing them to go flying.

"And that's bad for us, isn't it?" Sazh asked.

"What do you fucking think!" Naruto snapped as it tried to slam its arm into the group, causing everyone to dive out of the way, Naruto and Hope landed around the same area, Sazh and Vanille landed around another area, while Lightning and Konan landed somewhere else as well. It was almost a semi-circle formation around the Dreadnought, and it seemed to be figuring out which one of the group it wanted to get first. Lightning answered its question for it, as she charged at the machine, and slashed at the Dreadnought numerous times, only for nothing to be done, the Dreadnought slammed its metal claw into her, sending the pink haired woman flying back to where Konan was.

"Cure!" Konan shouted, causing an aura to appear around Lightning, curing the woman, who looked surprised to be cure of any injuries and not feel any pain.

"Aero!" Naruto and Vanille shouted as they unleashed balls of wind against the Dreadnought's sides.

"Fire!" Sazh and Hope shouted as they launched fireballs at the balls of wind at the sides of the Dreadnought, causing an explosion to be unleashed. When the cloud of smoke cleared, the Dreadnought was still standing ... with no trace of damage.

"What the hell!" Naruto uttered in shock, wondering just what was going on, it worked before! So why wasn't it working now!

"Naruto! Hope!" Lightning shouted, causing the blond to look ahead and his eyes to widen as the Dreadnought was about to attack him and Hope, the boy was standing still, his eyes wide with fear. Hope closed his eyes tight as the Dreadnought was about to attack him, but after a few seconds of not feeling pain, wondered what was going on and opened his eyes. He looked shocked when he saw that Naruto was in front of him with a Rasengan in hand in a stalemate with the Dreadnought's arm that had attempted to crush them against the wall.

"Hope, get to where Lightning and Konan is, now!" Naruto ordered, sweat running down his face as he felt himself being pushed back slightly.

"But ..." Hope started trying to protest.

"Just do it!" Naruto shouted, causing the young boy to nod and run towards Lightning and Konan. As the boy got to the two women, he quickly turned to Naruto, only for his eyes to widen when Naruto was suddenly slammed into a wall of junk by the Dreadnought, at the cost of its arm which went flying due to the Rasengan that Naruto had used in their stalemate.

"NARUTO!" Hope shouted loudly, unable to believe his eyes as the Dreadnought suddenly turned to them, revealing Naruto being implanted into the wall. Not moving. Not conscious.

Looking dead.

There wasn't a cloud of smoke telling them that it was merely a clone. There wasn't a flash of life and a cheeky smile telling them that he was joking. He was just dangling there uselessly before he fell forward and just laid there lifelessly.

Something in Hope snapped as he suddenly started using spell after spell of all the spells that he knew, causing all of them to slam into the Dreadnought, causing the machine to stop for a moment, before shaking them off as if nothing happened.

"Deshell!" Vanille shouted suddenly, causing the Dreadnought's metal to turn somewhat rustier. "Deprotect!" Vanille shouted again making the Dreadnought's metal to go even rustier.

"Thunder!" Lightning shouted causing the metal to buckle slightly, while Sazh fired bullet coated in flames using his flamestrike, it burnt small holes in the machine.

"Blizzard!" Hope shouted as he tried to get the metal to freeze and hope that the systems inside died.

"Water!" Konan shouted as she used the spell to make it weaker. Suddenly the Dreadnought revealed a cannon which glowed blue.

"Look out!" The cannon fired just as everyone got out of the way, but the ground beneath them fell in and they all fall, with the Dreadnought looking down on them from above.

"Though we were goners. You all right?" Sazh asked as everyone started getting to them feet.

"I think so." Vanille admitted.

"Incoming!" Lightning announced as the Dreadnought landed in front of them, while Hope looked at the machine with a crazed look in his eyes.

"That's good! Cause I wanna see it destroyed for what it did to Naruto!" Hope snarled angrily, before Konan grabbed his shoulder.

"Going in rashly isn't going to do you any favours and it most definitely won't help you avenge Naruto!" Konan told the boy, who froze at those words. "If you want to avenge Naruto, you'll need to be calm and keep your composure."

"..." Hope didn't say anything for a moment. "Right."

"Aero!" Vanille shouted suddenly sending a ball of wind towards the machine.

"Fire!" Sazh and Hope aimed a fireball at the same spot, causing a much bigger explosion than the ones that he assaulted the Dreadnought the first time and when the smoke cleared, the Dreadnought had a hole in its side.

"Thunder!" Lightning and Konan shouted as they attacked the Dreadnought with numerous sparks causing the Dreadnought to twitch violently.

"SAGE SPEAR!" Someone called, before the Dreadnought was suddenly impaled from above by its own arm from above, while a figure landed in front of the Dreadnought as it collapsed onto its side.

"Naruto!" Vanille and Hope shouted, sounding relieved as they ran over to the blond, who was turning off his Sage mode, before he fall to his knees and started coughing violently as he coughed up a load of blood. He took off his jacket and shirt to reveal a massive bruise forming on his chest, where his ribs would be, only for some red chakra to suddenly slither over his chest and start repairing the damage that had been done.

"Wow ... I actually almost died there." Naruto panted out, as the damage was almost fully repaired, revealing his scar on his chest where Sasuke had previously rammed a Chidori beforehand.

"Naruto." Konan started.

"I don't even know how I survived myself, so don't ask." Naruto told Konan, who blinked, before accepting the answer. '_Even with Kyuubi, I thought I was dead.'_

'_**Glad you think so highly of me you little shit.'**_ Kyuubi growled.

'_Fuck off fox.'_

"Pulse is crawling with things like that, isn't it?" Sazh asked Lightning.

"Got me. Not even the Corps has access to intel on Pulse." Lightning answered, admitting that she couldn't tell them what they may have needed to know. "Soldiers in the field fight blind."

"Yeah, I noticed that. But don't you need to know what you're up against?" Sazh asked Lightning.

"Target's a target." Was Lightning's response.

"You like to keep it simple, don't you?" Sazh asked.

"I stick to my goal." Lightning told them.

"As long as you have a goal, you can fight?" Hope asked, after he and Vanille stopped bothering Naruto, who was putting his shirt back on. Hope had heard the last parts of the conversation that Lightning and Sazh were having.

"You can stay alive." Lightning told the boy as she walked onwards.

"In our home, information was the most important thing there was, it was the difference between staying alive, and being killed, that was the way things went." Konan told the group, causing Lightning to stop for a moment, wanting to here this as well.

"I have been a victim of a fuckup in information and nearly paid the price by being killed, but before of what I must admit to being somewhat of a fluke, we managed to stay alive." Naruto announced to the group as well, causing everyone to look surprised at that one. "Even now I wonder how we didn't die sometimes."

"I see." Lightning muttered, before she walked onwards, knowing that they still had a hard fight ahead.

* * *

In an office, a group of doctors were discussing their new patient.

"So, how is the man that Jihl brought in lately? Will we need to perform surgery?" One of the doctors asked nervously.

"No, he hasn't suffered any serious injuries that can be noted of, apart from the fact he is practically blind." One of the leading doctors announced.

"We've already injected the chemicals needed in order to restore his eyesight fully, so he won't have to worry about seeing just an empty blackness for the rest of his life." Another of the doctors announced.

"That's good. I was hoping for some good news when I saw you next." Jihl announced as she walked into the office.

"Yes, he should be ready to join your squad, his reflexes are quite incredible, even in his sleep he tried to strangle one of the doctors who had been meaning to give him the injection, but we had to put him in a coma just to give him his treatment, but even then it had been difficult." The lead doctor told Jihl.

"That's good news. I hope to see him awake by tomorrow so I can speak with him, personally." Jihl told the doctors.

"Of course."

* * *

Chapter 7 is done!

Anyway, first things first, I was actually right about Konan's age in the first place, since Yahiko had died when he was around 25-30, so that meant that Konan would have to be in her 30s at least. Sorry for the confusion.

I have news! I have been given special arrangements which allows me to have more time doing work at home, which kills on of the main reasons for my stress levels. This also means that I will most likely be updating faster as well.

Oh happy days!

Also, if you have not heard yet, there's gonna be a sequel to Final Fantasy XIII, called Final Fantasy XIII-2. Which means that this fic MAY get a sequel of its own. Just gonna wait for what happens in that game first before I confirm anything though.

I've also given a clue about who was found by Jihl, a big one. People have already guessed correctly.

Also, this is the longest chapter I've ever done, so I feel pride in that.

* * *

Here are the current pairings.

Naruto x Lightning

Sazh x Konan

Snow x Serah

Hope x Vanille

* * *

An omake for you guys to enjoy (at least I hope you will anyway).

Omake - Prank Master Lightning.

* * *

Lightning shifted her feet nervously as she looked at Naruto, who seemed confused by the tension in the air.

"Okay Lightning, what's wrong? Why do you look so uncomfortable?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, it's wonderful." Lightning uttered. "It's really wonderful."

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, I'm pregnant." Lightning announced, causing the blone to freeze in his thoughts, his brain trying to calculate just what it was progressing. Naruto simply passed out. "Now I can see why Naruto loves pranking people so much." Lightning smirked.

"I'M GONNA BE A FATHER!" Naruto cheered suddenly as he jumped to his feet in joy, causing Lightning to jump out of her skin in fright. "I'VE GOT TO TELL THE OTHERS!"

"No wait!" Lightning tried to get the blond to stop. But he didn't seem to hear.

Some time later.

"I'M GOING BE AN UNCLE!" Snow cheered loudly.

"I'M GOING BE AN AUNT!" Serah cheered just as loudly, while both Snow and Serah hugged Naruto happily.

"This is going to be great!" They cheered happily.

"I know!" Naruto grinned happily. "Lightning's going to be a great mother, I just know it!"

"I'm so looking forward to spoiling the kid." Snow sighed happily, while Lightning cringed as she watched from the window. She knew trying to prank Naruto was a bad idea.

* * *

That just came to mind, and for some reason I could see that sort of thing happening.

Until next time, goodbye and goodnight.


	8. Gilgamesh, Splitting Up and Odin

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, this is a challenge given to me by N.A.B. 0206**

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

Gilgamesh, Splitting Up and Odin

* * *

The group of five had managed to piece another piece of wreckage, this one they could all easily climb on without fear of getting injured or the piece of wreckage falling apart underneath them. Lightning sat down with Naruto next to her, drawing in the air something that couldn't be seen, causing Lightning to give the blond a curious expression. Unfortunately for her, Naruto didn't see her look so continued to do some kind of calculation with the air, before he nodded to himself in triumph and bit his thumb and proceeded to go through some hand seals.

"What is he doing?" Sazh asked as he and Konan came up together.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, before he slammed his thumb down into the metal surface, causing an explosion of smoke to appear, causing Lightning and Sazh to get somewhat curious, while Konan looked puzzled as to why he would want to summon someone now. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a very surprised and confused Gamakichi, who immediately brightened up when he saw Naruto.

"Naruto!" Gamakicki cried happily, while Naruto grinned down happily at him. "We thought that you were dead!"

"Well, it's hard to picture a happy ending from where I am at the moment." Naruto admitted, while Gamakichi looked around curiously, wondering why the boy who summoned him was in a junkyard of all things. "Gamakichi, I'm currently travelling with a bunch of new people." Naruto pointed towards Lightning, Sazh and Konan, before he pointed at Hope and Vanille who were below them, looking shocked at the sight of him from their position. Naruto proceeded to introduce them to the giant toad. "I want you to ask the elder toads about the Fal'Cie for me, and to get some notes on them, since the fox knew about them." Naruto told the toad, who looked surprised by something.

"Did you say Fal'Cie?" Gamakichi asked sounding concerned all of a sudden. "Do you have a mark on you?" Gamakichi asked him.

"I think so, because everyone here does." Naruto admitted, causing the giant toad to pale slightly.

"Where about do you have it?" Gamakichi asked shakily.

"I ... don't know." Naruto admitted, causing the toad to hit him angrily. "The hell was that for?"

"You either have it or you don't!" Gamakichi snapped.

"Well the fox said that I had it! So I just went along with it!" Naruto told the toad.

"**... Actually ... I kind of got rid of the mark from the beginning."** Kyuubi admitted, sounding somewhat sheepish, while Naruto blinked several times trying to process what he had just heard.

'_Fox, if you got rid of it in the beginning, then why didn't you say so? And why can I still use these powers then?" _Naruto demanded in his mind, sounding really confused by what the fox was saying.

"**I only said I get rid of the drawback, I never said anything about getting rid of the benefits of it all.**" Kyuubi admitted, sounding really pleased with himself. "**Besides, the Fal'Cie are bound to be terrified of you because of me, fearing that I would destroy them all if you were turned into a Cie'th, you were always safe from the beginning."**

'_... If that's the case, why did you get pissed off with me for getting the mark?'_ Naruto demanded sounding really annoyed.

"**I felt like scaring the crap out of you, because you're my only source of entertainment."** Kyuubi admitted not looking at all guilty by what he was confessing. Naruto meanwhile was wondering how to get the fox another source of entertainment that DIDN'T involve scaring the crap out of him.

"Naruto, are you going to answer me or not?" Gamakichi asked, sounding annoyed by being ignored for so long.

"..." Naruto didn't say anything at first. "I don't have it anymore."

"WHAT!" The other victims shouted in disbelief, wondering just how that happened to their blond companion.

"I don't know!" Naruto shouted back at the others. "But I'm not going to leave you hopeless or anything. Gamakichi, I need you to still do those tasks for me, if not for me, then for the others, my companions, my friends even!" Naruto pleaded with his summon, who nodded in agreement.

"If they're that important to you, then I'll do it." Gamakichi agreed. "Though next time, you'll need to summon the elders as well to go over this with you, they'll know more than I will."

"Thank you." Naruto uttered, before the summon dismissed himself.

"And when were you going to tell us about the fact you managed to get rid of your mark?" Sazh asked suddenly, causing everyone else to look at the blond. "Just how did you do it anyway?"

"..." Naruto didn't answer his question, he merely didn't have an answer for it, no matter how bad it seemed.

"It's because of your blood, isn't it? It's always protecting your from anything that could harm you, whether or not you wanted it to do so." Konan realized just what had happened to the blond, Naruto didn't say anything, but his fists were shaking slightly. "I never knew the power of your blood was this strong, it's simply amazing to see it in action like this."

"Don't say that ..." Naruto uttered, disgust finding its way inside. "Don't make it sound like what's inside of me is a blessing in disguise." Naruto growled, before he looked up sharply. "I don't care if I'm a monster, I don't care if I'm an L'Cie or not, to me, we're not the real monsters are we? The real monsters are the power, who allows this sort of thing to happen!" Naruto shouted at Konan, who looked surprised by Naruto's outburst. "Do you think I wanted to be cured without finding out why or how! If I'm perfectly honest, I wish that it had been all of you that had been cured instead of me!"

"Naruto, calm down, it's not helping." Konan commanded sternly, reminding Naruto why she was the more experience Shinobi, despite his power she could have easily beaten him if she really wanted to with the right plans in place.

"Why should I calm down? Tell me why I should calm down!" Naruto roared, only to start glowing bright blue and jumped into the air, where he proceeded to float in midair before he turned to the L'Cie.

"**That's it! Use your anger! Use the power of the Fal'Cie that was stored inside of you before I destroyed the mark! Use his power to give me the senses that you hold! Let me smell the wonderful taste of blood dripping from your numerous weapons!" **Kyuubi cackled in delight, before a figure appeared behind the blond, he appeared to be the shape of a normal human man, only he had six arms instead of the usual two. He had a gray complexion and wore red/orange armor. The thing about him was the fact that he had a different type of weapon in each hand, which put everyone else on edge, the name of this Eidolon was Gilgamesh. Naruto suddenly turned to his Eidolon and proceeded to start a staring contest.

"I have no idea who the hell you are, but I'm already in a bad mood, so if you're here to take me on, so be it!" Naruto snapped, before both him and Gilgamesh dropped to the ground, with Gilgamesh trying to slash at Naruto with all of his weapons, while Naruto proceeded to use his Kunai to block all of the attacks from the summon, before Naruto proceeded to slam his foot into the top of Gilgamesh's skull, sending him smashing into the ground face first. Naruto wasn't done there however, as he proceeded to summon four clones, which dived down towards the Eidolon, who stabbed them all with his weapons.

"Naruto! Let us help!" Vanille shouted down at the blond, who ducked underneath another slash from Gilgamesh, before he slammed a Rasengan into the back of the Eidolon, sending it flying into another tower of junk.

"He won't need our help Vanille." Konan told the girl, who looked up at her in surprise. "He's beaten opponents stronger than this summon on his own before."

"What makes you so sure? I may not have seen him fight someone really powerful, but that doesn't mean I don't want to help." Hope suddenly interrupted, only for Gilgamesh to bow towards Naruto, before he suddenly allowed his numerous weapons to float into the air, before they surrounded Naruto, who proceeded to spin them all before changing them all into a single blade, which kept on changing form. Gilgamesh proceeded to disappear into the weapon, which stayed into a Buster Sword, which Naruto placed onto his back, where a sheath was.

"That's why." Konan admitted, causing Lightning to allow a small smirk to grace her features for a moment thinking of the possibilities that could be done with someone who could actually fight like Naruto could, before the smirk vanished just as quickly as it came.

"Wow." That was all Hope could gasp out. "So that's an Eidolon, and Naruto took it down with ease." He looked down at Naruto with a new shine in his eyes, a new tint of respect perhaps. Naruto then looked up at the others above him, displaying a confident smirk.

"I feel so much better now that I've got that out of my system." Naruto announced, before he proceeded to jump up above Hope and Vanille, and between Lightning and Sazh, who didn't know what to say about his unnatural jump. "So, where are we going next?" Naruto asked Lightning and Sazh.

"I don't know where to go next." Sazh admitted somewhat sheepishly.

"I do." Lightning stood up, having not stood up during Naruto's battle with Gilgamesh, believing that he didn't need any help to defeat the Eidolon. She turned and looked up to the sky. "There." Everyone looked up to where she was looking, only to spot a glowing white ship high in the sky, millions of miles away from them.

"Eden?" Sazh asked in disbelief. "The Sanctum's seat of power." Sazh chuckled to himself, not thinking that Lightning was serious. "Oh, that's a great idea. Just charge right in there, give 'em a taste of L'Cie terror!" Sazh said this, sounding sarcastic as he did so.

Lightning however, was silent. Naruto was also silent, as was Konan, both the ninja feeling that it wasn't something that they should interrupt, for they wanted to see where this went and to see what could happen in the future.

"You're serious." Sazh said, realizing that Lightning hadn't been joking.

"Keep running – it's either die or turn Cie'th." Lightning took a few steps away from Sazh and Naruto. "There's no place for L'Cie to hide. No ... they want a fight? Let's take it to the Sanctum's door!" Lightning looked up to the sky once again.

"This isn't a game!" Sazh cried, while Naruto narrowed his eyes in thought.

"No. That's for damn sure." Lightning agreed, looking at Sazh. "It started with Serah. The Fal'Cie took her. Now I'm a L'Cie too. And the Sanctum's hunting me, an enemy of the state. But who's pulling their strings?" Lightning asked as she looked up at the sky. "A Fal'Cie. Eden. Cocoon's Sustainer and Guiding Light. It probably ordered the Purge, too. Pulse and Sanctum Fal'Cie? They're all the same. And we'll all the same to them: expendable." Lightning continued. By now Vanille and Hope were now reached them, listening intently. "I'm not dying a Fal'Cie slave."

"So? What are you going to do?" Sazh asked her.

"Destroy it." Lightning announced her plans.

"By yourself? What, are you crazy?" Sazh demanded. "Say you pull it off... What's that get you? Satisfaction? Something happens to Eden and it's lights out for Cocoon!" Sazh's eyes widen as he pieced things together, like a puzzle slotting into place. "You _want_ that. You're Pulse L'Cie now, so you just want to snuff out Cocoon!"

"No!" Vanille shouted suddenly interrupting them. "What about Serah? She said to save Cocoon! It might even be our Focus to make sure that Cocoon stays..."

"Our Focus doesn't matter." Lightning snapped, taking a step towards the younger girl. "I don't take orders from Fal'Cie. How I live is up to me."

"Don't you mean how you die?" Sazh asked slowly.

"Don't be so negative, it's depressing." Naruto interrupted. "You make it sound like that our lives are already over."

"You don't a mark of the L'Cie anymore, you managed to destroy yours." Sazh reminded Naruto.

"And you really think that I want you people to die?" Naruto demanded. "I may not have my mark anymore, but I still helped you because I wanted to! I don't want you see get killed over something as stupid as this!" Naruto looked away and grabbed the handle of his new weapon, his Eidolon. "Besides, I happen to like you guys, and personally, seeing you get killed wouldn't be in my best interests, considering I'm starting to see you as potential friends, who I need to help me around Cocoon." Naruto admitted, before he looked at Lightning, ignoring Sazh's surprised look. "But, if you did end up hurting innocent civilians that don't know any better or what's going on, I would be around those first in line trying to stop you." Naruto announced, causing Lightning to snort.

"Don't worry, I'm only after the Sanctum, I'm not out to destroy the world." Lightning almost sounded amused by the idea. "But if it did come to that, wonder if our 'hero' would try and stop me?"

"You want to fight Snow now?" Sazh asked sounding incredulous. "Just like that and you're enemies?"

"Next time we meet." Lightning at everyone. "We might be too." Lightning then stalked off.

"..." Naruto looked down at Lightning, who hadn't even bothered to request that he come with her. "I'm going with her." Naruto announced suddenly. "To make sure that she doesn't do anything stupid or something that she might regret." Naruto told them, before he jumped off and proceeded to glide through the air, using his chakra as some kind of experiment that managed to work. Hope stayed for a few more moments, before he turned to the others.

"Snow deserves it!" Hope snapped at them, jogging off so he could catch up with both Lightning and Naruto. Vanille shook her head in desperation.

"I don't know what I should do." Vanille announced miserably.

"That makes two of us." Sazh sighed, while Konan merely watched them, wondering how they could get out of this mess, for she didn't have the knowledge of the area to do so. Vanille suddenly slapped Sazh's back, causing him to almost slip off from his position.

"Hey! You're taking care of _me_." Vanille told the only man left with them.

"Well I won't be if you keep pushing me like that." Sazh told the girl.

"And I'll be taking care of _both_ of you, so you can't complain when I suggest something, got it." Konan told them, causing Vanille and Sazh to look at her.

"Fair enough." Sazh nodded.

"Yep!" Vanille giggled happily.

* * *

He couldn't sleep. The fact that he had bandages over his eyes made him think and wonder. It was because of this he couldn't sleep. He had to wonder why someone would take him in like this, when he was close to death, when he was practically blind. He had woken up and proceeded to strangle someone when they had tried to inject something into him, only for something to smother his sense and for his body to go limp. Now had he woken up and he could see the colour of the bandages that were over his eyes, but that would mean that his sight was back. But how was that possible? He was sure that his sight was beyond repair! Suddenly, he heard the door to the room open, and quickly turned his head towards the sound.

"Who's there?" He asked, sounding calm and collected, but at the same time, eager to know where he was and how his sight had been returned to him.

"I had been told that you wouldn't be awake for another day, but I'm glad to see that I was told wrong." A woman's voice purred, causing the man to stiffen slightly. "Do not worry, I'm not here to hurt you, in fact, I am here to help you." He heard the woman say. "My name is Jihl Nabaat, and I am the commander of PSICOM." Jihl introduced herself to the man lying on the bed in front of her.

"What are you talking about? I've never heard of this PSICOM before." The man admitted. Jihl sighed to herself, wondering why things had to be difficult. She then proceeded to explain to the man that PSICOM meant, Public Safety and Intelligence Command and what their aims were in the future, hoping to lure the man to joining her ranks. Jihl also told the man about the other side of the military as well, the Guardian Corps, after he had politely asked her about them, feeling that it would be best if he was to know about all the terms in the military on Cocoon.

"I see, thank you for telling me what I needed to know." The man thanked the commander of PSICOM, before he suddenly ripped up to his eyes and tore the bandages away to reveal his black eyes, which suddenly shifted into red eyes with 3 tomoes in each eye. Jihl could barely hold in a gasp after the transformation and before she knew it, she was being pinned against the wall by the man, but she had barely even seen him move!

"W-what are you?" Jihl barely got out, before the tomoes in his eyes started to spin and before she knew it, she was showing him her memories of the past couple of years, her training, her lifestyle, her actions, everything. It was as if he was looking for something while he looked through her mind. Suddenly as quickly as it happened, she was suddenly released from his grasp, but she managed to keep her balance due to her reflexes alone.

"I have what I want." He announced, before he opened up a white box that was beside his bed and proceeded to get his clothes out of the box, clothing that had been cleaned while he was asleep.

"What is your name?" Jihl asked, barely able to keep her voice from cracking, she had never been dominated like that before, ever. She knew that if she was to ever face him in a fight, she would be dead before she even knew it, the fact alone terrified her.

"My name?" The man asked, looking down at her with his Sharingan eyes which showed nothing but disinterest. "Is Itachi Uchiha."

* * *

Lightning was continuing on her path to destroying the Sanctum (is that a quest for revenge or not?) for what they had done to her sister and herself, by allowing everything that had happened to happen. She heard footsteps from behind and turned to find Naruto causally walking behind her without a care in a world. He smiled happily and waved cheerfully at her, causing her to wonder if allowing Naruto to come with her was a good idea at all.

"Wait for me!" Lightning blinked when she heard Hope's voice, who panted when he caught up with her, leaning on his knees as he did so. "I'm going with you." Hope told the pink-haired woman and Naruto.

"I can't babysit you anymore." Lightning told Hope.

"Come on Lightning, it's not like he hasn't got a reason to do this, besides we can toughen him up." Naruto told Lightning before he turned to Hope. "You do have a reason, right?"

"Y-yea!" Hope nodded in agreement.

"Well there you go, and even if you don't want him to come with us, he'll have to help us with those PSICOM round corner." Naruto told the soldier, who turned sharply to find 5 men in PSICOM uniform.

"Great, a PSICOM hit squad." Lightning cursed her luck, before one of the men who was dressed in all black, a PSICOM Tracker, pressed a detonator, which caused an explosion behind the group of three. They all looked behind them to see a load of junk falling apart and blocking their way. Naruto blinked before he looked at Lightning.

"Well would you look at that, our way back is blocked." Naruto told Lightning, signaling that they couldn't just leave Hope here, even if that was what Lightning wanted. Naruto pulled his buster sword from his back and pointed it at his new enemies. "Well, might as well use you idiots as a test run." Naruto shrugged confidently, before he launched himself at the Corp Gunners and the PSICOM tracker. One of them was cut cleanly in half by Naruto's attack alone. Lightning sliced through another of them, while Hope proceeded to use his Fire spells to blow the others up. Soon it was only the PSICOM Tracker left and Naruto allowed his sword to shift into a Gunblade, which he allowed to swing in the air cockily.

"You choose the wrong time to do this." Lightning growled.

"Easy Lightning, don't want to get too pissed with the bastard, you might get caught off guard." Naruto grinned cockily as he caught his Gunblade and pointed it at the PSICOM tracker, just as he was about to punch the blond. Naruto merely pulled the trigger to see what it did, only for the PSICOM Tracker to get his brains blown out. Naruto blinked when he saw what he had done to the Tracker and whistled in amazement. "Wow, didn't think one of those bullet things could do so much damage, even if it was by accident."

"..." Lightning didn't say anything.

"Hey Hope, good job over there, impressed me with your control over magic." Naruto gave the young boy a praise.

"I have to agree, not bad." Lightning told the young boy after Naruto praised him.

"Really? Thanks."

* * *

Sazh, Vanille and Konan looked from where they were standing peering over some wreckage where they could see some smoke in the background of where Lightning, Hope and Naruto had gone.

"Uh-oh. Army's out to play." Sazh told them.

"What now?" Vanille asked Sazh and Konan.

"I don't see a way that we could go that way any longer, but if we stay too long then this army you talked about will catch up to us." Konan mused. "We should get moving and quickly, who knows what will happen."

"So we should run." Vanille confirmed, causing both Sazh and Konan to look at her. "There isn't anything else that we can do at the moment."

"You're right." Sazh agreed. "Besides, it's not like Lightning needs us to help her or anything. Neither does Naruto for that matter." Sazh told them.

"Naruto is the last person that probably needs help right now, but he would want to protect both Hope and Lightning, even if she doesn't need it." Konan told them. "It's the type of person that he is, whether you want it or not, he will help you."

"That's good to hear." Sazh told Konan, before he started to leave. "I'll try to find us a way out of here. Come on." Sazh told the two woman, before they followed his lead, wondering where this journey would take them."

* * *

Back with Lightning, Naruto and Hope, the youngest of the three was currently pacing.

"There will be more soldiers. We should keep moving." Hope told Lightning and Naruto, before he turned to them. "Lightning? Naruto? Are you worried about the others? I'm sure that they got away okay."

"So can you, if you leave now." Lightning told the boy.

"With Konan they should be fine." Naruto reassured the boy.

"With me, it will be fight after fight." Lightning continued as if Naruto hadn't said anything. "I don't know how it'll end. It's anybody's guess."

"I know that. But ... I need to get stronger." Hope told them both.

"Trust me when I say this, experience will make anyone stronger, hell, you've been fighting for most of this place already, so I could say you've already gotten stronger." Naruto told the boy, who seemed to blush under the praise. "Besides, when I was first fighting, I was so much more shitter than you are right now. But forget about that, I won't say anything more." Naruto interrupted just as Hope was about to say something. The boy instead turned to Lightning, who had been silent.

"Lightning?" Hope asked.

"Call me Light." Lightning requested. Naruto opened his mouth to say something. "Not you Naruto, only Hope." Naruto started crying anime tears muttering about 'how life was so unfair' so some reason. He was simply ignored.

"What's the plan from here?" Hope asked Lightning, while Naruto looked at the woman as well.

"Through the Gapra Whitewood to Palumpolum, we'll find transport to Eden." Lighting told the young boy.

"I live in Palumpolum. I can show you all the shortcuts." Hope told Lightning, explaining what he could do for her.

"No side trips." Lightning told the boy sternly.

"No need. I don't think L'Cie are welcome at home." Hope replied, as they started walking off.

"See, Hope can help you, no need to leave him behind Lightning." Naruto chuckled, while Lightning gave him a cold look.

"You can stop complaining every once in a while you know? It would be nice to be able to get some peace and quiet." Lightning told him coldly.

"Hello? As long as we're going along this path we won't get any peace and quiet, remember? You said it yourself. It will be fight after fight." Naruto pointed out bluntly. Lightning decided to ignore him this time, deciding to rush forward so they could get to their destination quicker. "Why is it that all the good looking girls are either extremely violent or bad tempered these days?" Naruto sighed as he followed the pink haired soldier on her path of destruction, with Hope following not too far behind. It wasn't too long before they ran into trouble in the form of some more PSICOM troops.

"Too easy." Lightning muttered as she finished off the last of them, while Naruto was trying to get his weapon (now a pike) out of one of the men. "How did you manage to kill them with that thing?"

"Easy." Naruto answered. "I simply put a lot of strength and speed behind it." Naruto told Lightning, who blinked. "But still, will these morons ever learn that they have no chance in hell in beating us? It's almost insulting." Naruto told both of his travelling companions as he finally got his pike out of the PSICOM tracker, before changing it back into a Gunblade. It wasn't too long before they managed to get to the next part of the junkyard.

"Any trace of the L'Cie?" One of the PSICOM Trackers asked his partner, who was looking over a Pulse Dreadnought.

"Nothing. No sign that it's been activated." His partner replied. Suddenly they turned after hearing a sound.

"Who's there?" They demanded, only for one of them to get a Rasengan to the face, shattering his mask and destroying his skull, while the other one got sliced up by Lightning. Hope decided to have a look at the Dreadnought.

"What was PSICOM doing here?" Hope asked.

"Probably thought we'd use a Pulse machine to escape." Lightning answered, while Naruto blinked.

"We can use that thing?" Naruto asked, sounding somewhat surprised, especially after what had happened last time. "Wow, didn't expect that."

"Maybe we should try it." Hope offered, before he had a look at the machine. "What does this do?"

"Hey, you're gonna hurt yourself! Don't touch that!" Lightning cautioned the young boy.

"Yea! That's my job to do stupid dangerous things, not yours!" Naruto offered, causing Lightning to give him a deadpanned expression. "What?"

"Not helping." Lightning pointed out.

"Wait. What if it works?" Hope asked them both, climbing on the machine.

"Leave it!" Lightning snapped loudly, but Hope had already activated the machine, much to Lightning's annoyance and Naruto's amusement. "I told you to leave it."

"Stop! Stop already!" Hope cried desperately as he pressed some buttons at the cockpit of the Dreadnought, only for him to suddenly gain control of it. "I think I got it." Hope called down to them. "Light! Naruto! I think I can work it!" Hope sounded really excited by what he had achieved.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Bash down that wall!" Naruto shouted up to the boy, sounding just as excited by the idea of seeing the machine in action and NOT fighting them this time, as he pointed at the wall that was blocking their path. Hope managed to pilot the Dreadnought towards the wall and with a powerful punch, proceeded to smash it down so they could get across the gap that had been behind it. "Hey Hope! If you see any robots, smash them out of the way! Take advantage of that's Dreadnought's strength!"

"Right!" Hope nodded as he moved the machine to go across the bridge that he had just created. Lightning meanwhile gave Naruto a cold stare.

"Why are you encouraging him?" Lightning demanded suddenly, she really didn't need the child to slow her down right now.

"Simple. If Hope gets some confidence in himself he will do better, why put someone down when all they really need is some encouragement to do better to get what you want?" Naruto asked Lightning, who froze in place as she thought about it. "All it really takes is a little encouragement to turn someone into something that you could need in the future. Besides ... he has a quest for revenge." Naruto's expression turned cold. "I will not allow Hope to become as twisted and demented as my friend did." Naruto told Lightning. "Anyway, let's go, we'll need to see what damage Hope did with his new toy." Naruto seemed cheerful once more, before he sped off after Hope and his path of destruction. Lightning was trying to get rid of the cold chill that had gone down her spine.

'_That expression ... it was almost ... frightening.'_ Lightning thought to herself before she started running so she could catch up with both Naruto and Hope. When Lightning had caught up with Hope and Naruto, after seeing the destruction that Hope had caused, they were at a steep edge, where Hope was trying to manoeuvre the Dreadnought and hopefully get the footing right, only for it to go all wrong and for the Dreadnought to go over the edge crashing to the ground, while Hope landed flat on his back, having screamed on the way down.

"Nice landing." Lightning commented, sounding almost amused.

"Hope! I wanted to have a go!" Naruto complained with anime tears running down his cheeks, looking somewhat embarrassing for someone his age. Lightning and Naruto jumped down, while Naruto had a quick look at the now powerless Dreadnought. "Yep, it's dead, just when I was going to ask if I could have a try too!" Naruto pouted.

"Grow up." Lightning told the blond. "We'll find another one somewhere, whether or not we have to wait several months is another thing for you to worry about."

"That sucks!" Naruto complained childishly.

"Let's get moving." Lightning commanded, before Hope got to his feet.

"I need a minute. I'm still winded." Hope sounded a little out of it as he clutched his stomach due to the way that he had landed from a high fall.

"You're too soft." Lightning told the boy.

"He's still just a kid that hasn't got the experience yet." Naruto reminded Lightning, inviting himself into the conversation once more, but Lightning had started to walk away.

"Wait up!" Hope called out to Lightning, desperately trying not to be left behind. This left Naruto staring behind the boy with a deadpanned expression over his face.

"Sometimes, I don't even know why I bother." Naruto sighed, before he started following them at his own pace.

"I hope we find another one of those things." Hope announced, causing Naruto to give him a look.

"I'll be driving it next time. It's not fair that you got all of the fun." Naruto complained, not noticing that Lightning was starting to get annoyed. Naruto suddenly transformed Gilgamesh into a giant shuriken. "Duck Lightning!" Naruto shouted, before he threw the shuriken at Lightning's direction. The pink haired soldier barely ducked in time as it sped over her body. She snapped her body up to look at Naruto angrily.

"What the hell was that for?" Lightning shouted, before Naruto suddenly leapfrogged her of all things, and caught the giant shuriken in his hand, but now it was stained with fresh blood.

"There were PSICOM up ahead and I just got rid of them for you." Naruto sang, causing Lightning to twitch violently, before she slammed her fist into Naruto's skull, sending him smashing into the ground.

"Then warn me what you're next time!" Lightning snapped, while Naruto got up as if nothing had happened, even as the large bruise on his forehead was already starting to heal. "I hate you."

"Love you too." Naruto replied happily as they continued on, Hope remembering why he was dreading this in the first place back at Bresha Lake. Soon, they were at a bridge, above a large waterfall. Lightning was ahead of everyone, while Naruto was in the middle, looking concerned for a sluggish Hope, who suddenly tripped over a piece of metal that was on the bridge. Lightning stopped.

"This isn't working." Lightning turned to look at Naruto and Hope. "I mean, you're a liability Hope. You'll just slow me down." Lightning told the young boy in frustration.

"What?" Hope looked distressed by the mere idea of holding Lightning back and quickly got to his feet.

"I'm sorry, but I can't protect you when ... AH!" Lightning started, only to suddenly gasp in pain and fall on one knee, holding her chest as her brand started to glow a pink colour.

"You can't leave me here! You've got to take me with you!" Hope cried, sounding desperate.

"Lightning, you can't be serious!" Naruto shouted at the pink haired soldier, who glared at him trying to cope with the pain. "Are you out of your mind? Leaving a kid like Hope out here on his own, he'll never survive!" Naruto looked furious, Hope know that he should feel hurt, but could also understand why Naruto was saying those words, trying to get Lightning to keep him around.

"You know Naruto. I really don't know why I even bother keeping you around either!" Lightning was now shouting at Naruto. "All you've done is either being a pain in the ass or act like an immature brat! I'm getting sick and tired of it!" Lightning shouted. "I didn't think that I could ever hate anyone more than Snow in my entire life, but I guess I've found that I can! I HATE YOU MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THIS GODDAMN WORLD!" Lightning roared, only for a burst of pink light to appear underneath her, almost like a summoning seal that had suddenly revealed itself for the world to see. Naruto's eyes widen and he pushed Hope back, aiming for the boy to be out of danger, as he pulled Gilgamesh from his back and holding him in a defensive position, as if he expected an attack. Lightning leaped forward, just as a figure was summoned where the soldier had been standing moments before. He looked powerful, majestic even, but like a humanoid machine. It drew a long powerful looking blade and advanced towards Naruto, and proceeded to slam his blade at the blond, who actually blinked in surprise at the power that had been behind the attack.

"I don't know who you are." Naruto started, even as he could feel himself actually starting to be pushed back. "But I'm not going to let you get past me and harm Hope!" Naruto shouted as he started to push the figure back, getting a grunt of surprise from him.

"This can't be happening." Lightning uttered, before she leaped at the figure, Odin as she had found out thanks to her Libra spell, only to feel paralysed as she started to feel as if the life was being sucked out of her, Naruto caught the soldier so she couldn't get injured due to the fall, only to have to dodge an attack from Odin and do a back flip to where Hope was.

"Lightning, come on, we need to do this now!" Naruto hissed out. "This is your Eidolon and we need your help defeating it." Naruto uttered, as Lightning slowly got to her feet. Naruto then charged at Odin, who had been charging at them as well, clashing blades before Naruto got in a powerful kick, aiming to force the majestic Eidolon back quite a bit. Suddenly Lightning entered the fight, slicing at the incredible looking Eidolon, hoping to be able to stop him somehow, only for feel something from him. Something she didn't think was possible. She could feel approval, _Odin's_ approval. It was at that moment that Naruto was suddenly forced back, Odin's blade cutting into Naruto, blooding pouring down from his forehead.

"Cure!" Lighting shouted as she sent healing magic Naruto's way. Even if she had hated him, even if she thought he was the most annoying and damnable person that she had ever met, she knew that she needed him in some way shape or form. But she didn't understand why. Suddenly Lightning, Naruto and Hope combined their efforts together by sending magic at the creature, while Naruto didn't have to worry about the nasty side effects thanks to the Kyuubi, as much as the blond hated to say it, Lightning and Hope, when his turn came, did have to worry, for they still had their brands and weren't ninja like Naruto was. Suddenly Lightning felt an urge to call out a name.

"Odin!" Lightning called out, causing Odin to stop his advance almost immediately, almost as if it had surrendered, just like Gilgamesh had done beforehand with Naruto. Suddenly, Odin changed before their very eyes, while Gilgamesh had changed into a blade that could always change form into another weapon, Odin changed into a white horse. He stepped towards Lightning and proceeded to withdraw within her brand, vanishing before their very eyes. Lightning panted from what appeared to be fatigue after a difficult series of battles, before she dropped on one knee.

"Lightning!" Hope cried in concerned, while Naruto reminded silent even as they both checked on the woman. "You're brand looks ... different. That must be your Eidolon, like Naruto has on his back." Hope looked almost in awe at the fact that they had survived against something like Odin. "Naruto, why do you keep Gilgamesh out?"

"Hope ... I told you earlier when we were still with Sazh, Vanille and Konan, my brand somehow got destroyed by something earlier on, so Gilgamesh can't go back into my brand, and I doubt he could go anywhere else." Naruto explained before he looked at the sword that was Gilgamesh. "Besides, I think he likes the fresh air."

"..." Gilgamesh wasn't going to give them an answer.

"Magic and mumbo-jumbo, I must have hit my head on that Purge train." Lightning muttered darkly, before she got to her feet, Hope got his feet quickly as well, Naruto however, was taking his time.

"Am I really in your way?" Hope asked quietly, hanging his head in shame, almost expecting some kind of response that would further shoot down his confidence. Lightning didn't give an answer. She merely started to walk away, much to Naruto's anger. "I'll do better! I'll try harder, I'll ..." Hope started to try and get Lightning to keep him around.

"Hope." Lightning interrupted the boy, causing Hope to sigh, expecting some kind of telling off, while Naruto saw the look in Lightning's eyes as she turned well to look at him, allowed a smile to grace his lips. "We'll toughen you up." Hope looked up at her, with a surprised look on his face. "I'm sorry, about before." She apologized, causing Naruto to blink, wondering if he had heard right. However, Hope had rushed forward, looking eager to help, so he realized that he had heard right.

'_Seems like Lightning does have a heart after all.'_ Naruto thought to himself, wondering how he should apologize to her, before he followed Lightning and Hope wondering if he should be worried about PSICOM in the area anymore.

* * *

Further ahead, Lightning and Hope had been encountered by PSICOM troopers.

"L'Cie!" The leader snarled.

"Got my back?" Lightning asked the young boy who she was going to train with Naruto, if he ever got there.

"Yea." Hope nodded, just as they got attacked.

* * *

Not too long after, Naruto whistled at the destruction that had been left after Lightning had summoned Odin for the very first time, looking very impressed with what he could see.

"I take it that this was done by the mighty Odin then?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, looking around, seeing a stray flicker of electricity every here and there.

"Yea! It was pretty awesome to see! You really missed out!" Hope told Naruto, sounding really excited with what he had seen, causing Naruto to blink in surprise at the cheerfulness that the silver haired boy was showing.

"Well, someone's finally acting like their age, it's about time too, I was starting to get concerned that you might be an emo of all things." Naruto laughed, causing Hope to gap at him in shock.

"That's not funny!" Hope cried, looking really annoyed by what had just happened. Suddenly, however, the boy dropped to his knees and started to pant heavily, as if the day's events had finally caught up with him. He leaned against a nearby rock so he didn't suddenly collapse right there and then.

"We'll stop here." Lightning announced suddenly, causing Naruto to look over at the pink haired woman.

"Sorry." Hope apologized, believing that he was dragging the pace down because he couldn't keep up.

"Don't sweat it." Lightning reassured the boy as he suddenly turned his back to the rock that he had been hoping as a support for his weight. "I'll look around, you rest up." Lightning told the boy.

"I'll go with you." Naruto told Lightning as he made a shadow clone, who knew as soon as he was created that he was going to look after Hope.

"You don't need to." Lightning told Naruto, as if she wanted to avoid a conversation with him at the moment.

"I've got a clone watching over Hope, so I can go with you." Naruto told the pink haired soldier, who sighed in defeat, knowing that she couldn't argue with the blond much after that comment.

As they walked along, it was an awkward silence that filled the air, neither Naruto nor Lightning seemed comfortable with the silence.

"Naruto ..." Lightning started.

"Lightning ..." Naruto started.

"I'm sorry!" Both Naruto and Lightning apologized at the same time, causing both of them to blink and look at each other in confusion. "What are you?" They asked at the same time. "Why would you?" They asked at the same time again, looking surprised by each other.

"You first." Naruto offered, causing Lightning to look surprised.

"Why ... are you apologizing for? You've been a lot of help ever since you've arrived." Lightning asked Naruto, who gave her a deadpanned expression.

"But I've also been annoying as hell, and I'm surprised that only you snapped at me to be honest with you, I was almost expecting the others to do so as well." Naruto pointed out bluntly. "You've had a good reason to be pissed off with me." Naruto announced. "So why are you apologizing to me?" Naruto asked the solider.

"I didn't mean ... what I said the bridge." Lightning admitted, looking away almost as if she was ashamed by what she had said to him back where she had summoned Odin because of her rage.

"But you were frustrated with what had happened to you, what had happened to Serah, Snow acting like an idiot, even more than I can act, Sazh acting like he didn't care. It's obvious that you would be upset by it." Naruto pointed out.

"But that's still no excuse!" Lightning told the blond, looking ashamed. "I was about to leave Hope behind because I thought that he was weak, holding me back, dragging me down, a liability! That's not how a soldier should act! I'm supposed to protect people! Not put them in further harm! I ..."

SLAP!

Lightning blinked several times, before she rubbed her cheek, where Naruto had slapped her across the face, a red handprint now embedded in her pale skin.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you talk yourself down." Naruto told the pink haired soldier. "Nobody's perfect Lightning. I know that for a fact, since I'm the perfect example of it. Everyone makes mistakes, even professionals. There is no such thing as a perfect person, or else the world wouldn't be able to improve, evolve for the generations to come." Naruto continued. "I know that I may be a bit young to be talking about these sorts of things, but there is no reason whatsoever that you can talk yourself down like that. I'm not the one who had been leading the group before we got here. It was you who had been doing that, because of your experience on the battlefield and because of your knowledge of the world." Naruto told Lightning. "Me and Konan, we were hopelessly loss before we found you guys, and we still didn't know where we were going to go, but you gave us a purpose, a reason. And for that I thank you."

"Naruto ..." Lightning uttered.

"Besides, how could I ever forgive myself if I let a pretty face like yours always look so negative?" Naruto grinned foxily, causing Lightning to blink in surprise at the compliment.

"Were you trying to flirt with me?" Lightning raised an eyebrow at the blond.

"And if I was?" Naruto asked.

"You choose a really strange place to do it." Lightning shook her head, not sure whether or not she should be surprised by him anymore.

"Let's go check on Hope, he's bound to be fast asleep by now." Naruto chuckled to himself.

"Yea."

* * *

**Chapter 8 is completed.**

**It's been a while since I've updated this hasn't it? But to be honest with you, I've been having a few writer's block, which annoyed the hell out of me.**

**Now, I know I'm going to get some comments for what had happened to Naruto's brand mark, so I'm going to give my argument.**

**In other fanfics, Orochimaru has branded Naruto with his Cursed Seal, only for Kyuubi to destroy the seal and eat that part of Orochimaru's soul, and I had been wanting to find an excuse to get Naruto fighting Gilgamesh.**

**So here's the catch, Naruto is no longer branded by the mark of the Fal'Cie, no longer making him a L'Cie, however, thanks to the Kyuubi he gets to keep all of the magic without having all of the downsides that a L'Cie would have.**

**Also, I've finally revealed the person who had been found as Itachi Uchiha, why? Because it's Itachi fucking Uchiha, quite possibly one of the most greatest characters of all time that was ever character in Naruto, if not the best character ever created. He even had an epic backstory which blew everyone away at the time, what more could you want?**

**Don't answer that.**

**Oh, and I've been getting some flames from this one annoying bastard, flames that I always delete because of the fact that they are anonymous reviews and therefore pointless to have. Also if you flame me using your account, I will simply block you so you can never do so again, because you're ruining it for everyone else, it's like seeing the comments on Youtube for crying out loud.**

**I have just one thing to say to that person.**

**If you EVER tell me that I am writing like Kishimoto and that I should write Naruto/Final Fantasy crossovers like people like VFSNAKE who ALWAYS overpowers Naruto to the point where it's not even have to fight at all, he might as well be a god that he is going to destroy the world! The story becomes so predictable and boring after a while because of this. And there's also the fact that the guy always pairs Naruto up with Hinata and then goes ahead and makes it a HAREM pairing! **

**That's like playing different video games but always finding out that it's always the same ending, it really does get boring after a while, you know?**

**And he does it over and over and over and over and over and over again. He has so many stories but they have the same idea everytime.**

**Naruto get beaten. Never happened in the first place.**

**Naruto gets rescued. They always love him, he's the main character, he can't die ... actually yes he can, because we can do what we want afterward.**

**Naruto gets extremely powerful after 2-3 chapters! Surely it takes a lot longer than that to get THAT strong, surely. **

**Naruto kills all the bad guys without breaking a sweat. Yawn, making the fights more exciting! **

**Sasuke ALWAYS gets bashed. You can make him so he's not a prick. **

**Naruto ALWAYS ends up with Hinata. There are other girls out there. **

**Hinata always shares Naruto with other girls. Why? I would have thought that she was so obsessed over the guy that she would never EVER allow him to be with anyone else.**

**Naruto either impregnants all the girls and have a happy family and lives happily ever after OR Naruto announces his love for his numerous amount of wifes and lives happily ever after. Zzzz. That must get boring after a while, surely.**

**Anyway, before I get off track even more.**

**I'm sorry, but I want to make my fics at somewhat REALISTIC so that Naruto isn't always winning his fights and that he DOES have some weaknesses, besides, PEOPLE DIE, it's a matter of life, nothing can stop this cycle.**

**So please ignore the fact that I am currently holding your voodoo doll over a lighter if you ever try to flame me again.**

**Also ignore the fact that I will write complaints to people if other people use my work and don't even bother to cover it up. ... not mentioning any names here.**

**Apart from this sour end to the chapter, I hope that you have enjoyed the chapter.**

**One more thing.**

* * *

**Omake - Itachi's eyesight.**

Itachi didn't know what was going on, one moment he was merely walking down the corridor, the next thing was that he was in a room in never ending darkness. He didn't even know why.

"I wonder where everyone is." Itachi mused to himself, before he suddenly felt a presence sneaking up behind him and grabbed the person quickly. "Who are you, and what have you done with the light?" Itachi hissed darkly.

"Rebecca? Oh dear, not again." A doctor could be heard.

"Amanda? Is that you? Where am I?" Itachi asked, sounding confused. "And why are you in this Genjutsu?"

"No Itachi, this isn't a Genjutsu, you just need to be injected again, your eyesight's gone." Amanda sighed. "And Itachi, can please let Rebecca down? It's not her fault that she's always horny around you."

"..." Itachi didn't let her go.

* * *

**Until next time, goodbye and goodnight.**


	9. Regrets and Sorrow

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, this is a challenge given to me by N.A.B. 0206**

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

Regrets and Sorrow

* * *

Lightning woke up in the middle of the night, wondering why she could hear sobbing sounds. Hope had called her 'mom' in his sleep earlier, but Naruto told her how cute it was, much to her annoyance.

"I'm sorry." Lightning turned to Naruto when he uttered that out, it was at that moment that she realized that Naruto was the one crying, tears leaking from his closed eyes, not giving any resistance. "I'm sorry I couldn't save any of you ... my friends." Naruto sobbed in his sleep, while Lightning stared at the teenager with concerned eyes. It was as if he had been holding this in ever since he had met them and only now in his sleep was he showing signs of weakness.

"Naruto ..." Lightning didn't know what she could do to help him.

* * *

Elsewhere, Konan poked her head out from behind some rocks cautiously.

"It's clear." Konan told Sazh and Vanille, who seemed on the tense side. They appeared to be in some kind of abandoned factory/junkyard, but it didn't stop them from going onwards.

"No sign of soldiers." Vanille reported as she looked around.

"Guess Lightning and Naruto got their attention." Sazh mused.

"That shouldn't be a surprise." Konan almost looked amused, if it weren't for the fact that Naruto and Lightning seemed to be at each other's throats all the time, with Hope caught in between.

"I wonder how Hope's doing." Vanille asked, sounding somewhat worried, for the same reason that Konan was. Sazh looked behind them seemed to be working out where they were going.

"They were going to Palumpolum." Sazh pointed in the direction that Lightning, Naruto and Hope had been going. "Kid's on his way home. You can bet on it."

"Good for him!" Vanille crossed her arms, before she looked at Sazh and Konan, who were remaining quiet. The girl tilted her head to the side and moved in front of him. "What's wrong?"

"It's good, if they manage to slip in quietly." Sazh told the girl. "All of Cocoon is in the grip of the Pulse-phobia. If an L'Cie pops up on the radar, all hell will break loose."

"They don't even know why they're scared." Vanille pointed out.

"Afraid of what they don't know. Afraid to find out more." Sazh told the girl. "Gets worse the older you get. I'm terrified of what might happen. The world probably would be better off without Pulse L'Cie." Sazh continued, only to find Vanille crossing her arms when she looked away from him. "I mean most of them." Sazh corrected quickly.

"Gee, thanks." Vanille looked happier again. "Let's go!" Vanille suddenly pushed the man along the path happily, causing the man to laugh slightly. "Why are you lagging behind Konan?" Vanille asked when she realized that Konan wasn't going anywhere, much to Sazh's surprise.

"..." Konan remained silent. "It's nothing." Konan answered suddenly as she started walking with the duo of L'Cie, wondering where this trip would take her next. However, she suddenly spotted something. "What is that thing?" Konan asked suddenly, causing Sazh and Vanille to look over to the direction that the blue haired woman was looking. There seemed to be a jumping ... box for lack of a better word, with an eye aimlessly wondering about for some reason.

"I have no idea." Sazh answered, before he pointed at the box. "Libra!" He proceeded to scan the creature thing (I don't even know how to describe the thing) only for his eyes to widen suddenly. "Oh god."

"What is it, Sazh?" Vanille asked the only male in the group of three.

"That's a bomb!" Sazh told them, causing the girls' eyes to widen in surprise, before they both stared at the wondering box.

"Libra." Konan decided to scan the box now to confirm what Sazh was saying, only to find that he was telling the truth. "It's actually a bomb, a living, breathing, moving bomb." Konan shook her head in the chance that they could have possibly have at finding a bomb that could move for itself. The bomb had by now realized that there was someone or something scanning it for details, so it decided to fire itself up, much to the horror of the three L'Cie.

"Water!" Konan and Vanille cried out on instinct more than anything, seeing a lot of fire most likely meant that it could be put out by water, so when the bomb was covered by two liquid ball attacks, it smoked out steam for a moment, before it fall apart, for the water had managed to get into its already weak system.

"That was ... anti-climatic." Sazh announced suddenly, causing both Vanille and Konan to look at him. "What? It was."

"Ciao!" Vanille suddenly decided that this was the moment to go on ahead, much to Konan's and Sazh's annoyance, for they didn't know what was ahead of them.

* * *

Itachi Uchiha made his way through the base of PSICOM, looking around with only a slight bit of interest. Jihl was with him, making sure that he knew where he was going.

"Why is it that you want to meet the boy, Dajh?" Jihl asked the Uchiha. "What is your plan with him?" Jihl was more curious than anything else."

"You said that his father has become an L'Cie, and is travelling with the woman that I knew, Konan, did you not?" Itachi asked Jihl, who nodded in response. "Well, I wonder what the boy would say if he knew that his father was ..." Itachi lowered his voice now, so only Jihl could hear him, but whatever he was saying to the woman, it made her look shocked before an extremely surprised and almost pleased look found its way on her face.

"That sounds almost ... delicious." Jihl admitted, with a somewhat cruel smile gracing her lips. "But what makes you think that it would work?"

"Because ... I know how it feels when a family member betrays you." Itachi told the woman. Something about the way Itachi had said this, made Jihl believe him as soon as he did so.

* * *

Back in Vile Peaks, Sazh was looking at a machine before he used it to allow a bridge to be built so that the group of three could get across a gap.

"Nothing to it!" Sazh told the girls.

"Hurray Sazh!" Vanille sounded pleased.

"Let's get going, we still have a long way to go." Konan told them, still sounding pleased with what had happened. Ahead of them however, was a Bomb and one of the Pulsework Soldiers, making Konan think about how they could use this to their advantage. Suddenly, an idea clicked.

"You thought of something Konan?" Sazh asked the blue haired woman, causing her to nod.

"I have." Konan told him. "The bomb absorbs fire and explodes doesn't it? What if we used numerous fire spells and get it to explode near the Pulsework Soldier? That way, it will take out one of the enemies with the best defence from what we've seen so far." Konan offered, causing Sazh to look at her.

"That sounds like a good plan, but how are we going to pull it off? By what has happened so far, the Bomb needs to be near the Pulsework Soldier to destroy it, and the Bomb will try to get near us in order to kill us!" Sazh countered.

"I will try to get in between both of them in order to get them to destroy each other while trying to get me." Konan announced much to Sazh's surprise. "I do recall that you were told about Naruto and myself being Shinobi." Konan reminded the older man, who seemed somewhat annoyed by that, being reminded of Naruto meant that he was being reminded of the fact that the boy had somehow managed to destroy his L'Cie mark. "Right, and that means you won't mind if I do this," Konan suddenly appeared between both the bomb and the robot from Pulse and slapped them both with explosive tags, before disappeared leaving the two creatures from Pulse no time to react just before the tags explode causing them both to fall over the edge and into the darkness below as a result. Konan appeared in front of Sazh once more, only to look back and down into the darkness with a surprised look on her face as she looked down.

"That was too easy, wasn't it?" Sazh asked the blue haired woman, who nodded in agreement. "I'm not complaining though mind you, it makes things simpler that way." Sazh admitted. However this was short-lived when Vanille decided to announce that she was going to head on ahead before either of her two older companions could stop her.

"Don't just skip into danger like that!" Both Sazh and Konan snapped at the cheerful girl, who seemed to either ignore them or not have heard what they have said. They both raced off after her, with Konan being the faster of the two, while Sazh seemed to be lagging behind, due to the fact that Konan had much more training than the man did. They caught up to the young girl, who was looking at a rusty looking machine in what appeared to be disappointment.

"Oh well. Looks like it doesn't work," Vanille sighed, before she turned to the older duo of L'Cie, who were glaring at her. "Why are you glaring at me like that?" Vanille asked somewhat nervously, seeing as it wasn't just one of them glaring at her, but both of them.

"You're going to stop wondering off when we know that there is danger around." Konan told the young girl, who nodded quickly. "If you don't, then I'm going to put a leash on you." Konan told the girl, who looked shocked by the threat, not seeing it coming any time soon. "If it means that you'll stop wondering off, then I will do it."

"I'll be good." Vanille whimpered to herself, wondering why Konan seemed to channel a bit of her best friend there, especially since her best friend had actually used the same threat on her once before as well.

* * *

"Achoo!" Fang suddenly sneezed, looking surprised by her own reaction, while Snow merely smirked at her. "And why are you smirking like that?"

"Maybe because the reason you sneezed was because someone was cursing your very name." Snow told the woman with what seemed to be an attempt of a sly look, but he didn't seem to be pulling it off. The only thing that he got in response was a solid punch to his skull, causing the tall man to yelp in surprise, Fang looked more annoyed than anything else about what Snow had said.

* * *

Sazh, Konan and Vanille started down the ramp, where two bombs and a Pulsework Soldier marched or in the bombs' cases, jumped about as if waiting for someone, or something to attack, sadly for the three L'Cie, they were the only things that weren't from Pulse that the three creatures could attack.

"So how do we get past these guys then?" Sazh asked cautiously, hey he wasn't about to do anything that could get him killed after all, he liked living.

"I'll attempt to try the same trick again, but I'll have another plan, just in case this doesn't work as well as it did last time." Konan told Sazh, who nodded at the woman. "There's a gap down to our right, which could act as a pit and to our left there's the ledge that leads to the gap which links up the platform that we just came from."

"What would Naruto do in this situation?" Vanille asked innocently, causing the two adults to look at her.

"He would just rush in without a plan, sadly enough that normally seems to work for him, so I can't actually criticize him, as much as it pains me to say it." Konan admitted, sounding almost annoyed by this fact. "Let's get this started." Konan uttered before she suddenly appeared in between the three creatures from Pulse, impaling them with kunai that had exploding notes attached to them. Konan disappeared as quickly as she arrived, the Pulsework Soldier actually paused and looked down at the kunai where a sizzling sound was coming from before the note exploding, sending the machine flying back into the pit that Konan had spoke of first, while the bombs were also caught in explosions but they didn't get sent flying into pits, they absorbed the blows before they blow themselves up because of the fact they had too much power stored inside of them.

"So there's a limit of power that the bombs can store inside of them, interesting." Konan mused as she stored this information in for later use. After all being able to store away information that could be later used to their advantage was something that was always needed to be done if they were to succeed. It was the basics to survival after all.

However, moments later the group of L'Cie weren't expecting some chicken like creatures to attempt to attack them, Gremlins as they found out after beating the little creatures that had attempted to use the Fire spell on them, something that surprised Sazh more than anyone else. They were attacked by another set of Gremlins just a few feet later, though they were easily killed off by the group of three.

"Wow, look at that! I wonder what it's for." Vanille voiced everyone's thoughts as they looked at some kind of tower that was ahead of them, though they could also see several Gremlins, Bombs and Pulsework Soldiers ahead of them as well as the giant tower. "You're good with machines aren't you Sazh? Want to take a look?"

"We've got nothing else that could help us out." Konan announced, having used some of her paper to scout the area, though neither Sazh nor Vanille seemed to notice that part of the Akatsuki cloak that Konan was wearing had faded slightly to become her paper. Both Sazh and Vanille turned to stare at Konan.

"And just how do you know that?" Sazh asked incredulously.

"Secret," Konan answered easily.

"Secret," Sazh repeated, causing Konan to nod again. "I don't even want to know, do I?"

"No."

"Fine ... I'll see what I can do then." Sazh sighed in defeat, seriously, what did an old man have to do to get some peace and quiet around here? Then again, he was on the run, so he didn't have much of a choice in the first place. Why did everything have to go against him?

* * *

Naruto was floating in water in the middle of his mind, in front of the cage where the Kyuubi was sealed. Naruto simply stared up at the metal ceiling, wondering why he never thought of changing the place beforehand.

"**So you've finally come have you? You should be grateful you bag of flesh, if it wasn't for the fact that I despise being a servant to creatures weaker than myself, I wouldn't have even bothered getting rid of the mark of the L'Cie.**" Kyuubi grinned cruelly, something that Naruto ignored easily. "**Do you regret it? Leaving the village to die I mean? Leaving your friends to die just so you can save yourself?**"

"Did it look like I wanted to leave them? When Nagato used his jutsu on me, I was ready to leave him, demand that he revived the people he had killed! Kakashi, Shizune, everyone that had died. But now ... now I'm here to fight a battle against an entire army, an army that I know next to nothing about! I hate it here in this world! I want to go home!" Naruto started to rant about his hate for the place he now lived in, without a say in the matter. "When I find a way, I will go home and leave this world behind me." Naruto's eyes glinted coldly.

"**And what of your new friends boy? What of Hope? What of Konan? What of Sazh? What of Snow? What of Vanille? What of Lightning?**" Kyuubi grinned evilly at the boy that he was sealed within. "**Would you really leave them all to die, if it meant that you could leave this world for your home? Would you leave them here to be killed by the Sanctum that they talking about? Even though our original home world was a shithole to begin with? Where that bastard, Madara Uchiha is most likely waiting to pounce and talk me from you? Where your little bastard of a friend, Sasuke Uchiha would kill you just to gain the next level of the Sharingan?**" Kyuubi's evil grin turned into an evil smirk. "**And to think that you human call me cruel, you wouldn't even live beyond the first 5 minutes of going back to your world and you know it!**" Kyuubi laughed evilly for a few minutes, only to stop when he realized that Naruto's expression changed into a bored one.

"Are you done yet? Because if you have, then I have to admit that I never expected you to believe in my lies, weren't you the king of foxes, the masters of lying? If that's the case, than you're nothing more than a sad little joke that has been used so often that it's not even funny anymore." Naruto looked amused, while Kyuubi snarled angrily at the crack of his power and age.

"**You little shit, you should be grateful that I even bothered helping you!**" Kyuubi spat angrily.

"Oh don't get me wrong, I am grateful, but I don't like the idea of spending my dreams talking to you, especially when we can do that without the dreams anyway." Naruto shrugged. "Now, I'll be off fox, see you again some other time, though I would like it better if you didn't threaten me all the time." Naruto admitted, before he walked out of the chamber, leaving the giant fox demon roaring in anger. "Well that could have gone better, oh well." Naruto shrugged before he turned to the readers. "What do you think that could have been done huh? Not like I've got any help whatsoever or anything." Naruto scratched his head. "Now for the better dreams, hopefully it'll have lots of ramen, yay!"

* * *

"So there are four control panels that are needed to be switched?" Konan asked Sazh, after the man had hit one of the switches, causing a bright light to turn on.

"Pretty much," Sazh told Konan, looking serious as he did so, knowing that even if Lightning, Naruto and Hope may have captured the attention of the army, it didn't mean that they could say that they were off the hook yet, for there was still a possibility that the army could find them as well, something that wouldn't help them at all at this point.

"And there are Bombs and Pulsework Soldiers near the control panels as well." Konan sounded almost defeated by this point, sparing a glance at the rusty metal that once belonged to the Bombs and Pulsework Soldiers nearby.

"Yep, but all we've got to do is destroy them before they can kill us, right?" Vanille added this point of information at this point, causing the adults to nod in annoyance of the situation. Until they realized that it was Vanille saying this, causing them both to slowly turn to the girl who was humming away innocently.

'_A girl her age wouldn't be talking like that unless she's had a lot of experience, or something else.'_ Konan thought to herself.

'_... Isn't that something that Lightning would say?'_ Sazh thought, sweat-dropping as he thought this.

"There are also some Bombs and Pulsework Soldiers behind that giant gate that's going to be opening when all of the control panels are fully switched." Konan announced to the other two L'Cie. "But, I've already set off a trap that will blow them up if they try to come into this side of the gate."

"And if they don't and we need to cross over?" Sazh asked nervously.

"Then I will deactivate the traps before we go over." Konan told him, much to the man's relief. "First however, we need to activate those control panels, which have the Bombs and Pulsework Soldiers guarding them nearby, and since we can't blow the Bombs up because of the fact they might damage to control panel, we're going to have to play it safe."

"Like we did last time," Sazh pointed out.

"Yay, this will be so fun!" Vanille cheered happily, causing Konan to slap her own face in annoyance, wondering if Naruto somehow managed to pass some of his traits to the girl in a short amount of time they spent together.

* * *

Naruto had numerous clones watching the area where his group were sleeping with ease, until one of the clones sneezed violently and blew itself up by accident, causing Naruto to sit up sharply at the image. He blinked, only to realize just what had happened.

"For the love of god, that was the worst time for someone to be talking about me ... I need some sleep." Naruto complained to himself, before he allowed himself to be embraced by the darkness known as sleep.

* * *

In the end, the task of turning on the other three Control Panels turned out to be pretty easy for the group of L'Cie, much to their surprise ... mostly Sazh's, due to the fact that Vanille felt that could achieve anything as long as they worked together, while Konan was confident in the plans she laid out, knowing that they could achieve anything as long as things followed just as she played them out to be. Sazh was the only person who was surprised that things want this easily, due to the fact he always had a fear that something would go wrong at one stage or another, something that only realists had in mind, though Konan did also have a back-up plan, but she didn't tell the other two L'Cie that of course, she wanted to keep her cards to her chest before revealing them too soon.

"Aha! It's alive!" Sazh announced triumphantly as the machine before them suddenly turned itself on causing the machine to rise in the air high enough for the trio to go underneath the machine and get through quicker, the blue power beams started spinning as well, another sign that the machine was turned on.

"Way a go!" Vanille sounded excited by what had happened, before the giants gates that had been blocking their way opened, revealing two Pulsework Soldiers and two Bombs making their way to their side.

"Not the only things we woke up, huh?" Sazh mused, as he spared Konan a glance. The woman in question already had her fingers making a seal. Suddenly explosions erupted from beneath the four creatures from Pulse, causing the Bombs to suddenly blow up by themselves due to the fact they could take any more power, which in turn destroyed both of the Pulsework Soldiers, which had both been scattered into at least two different pieces.

"And that takes care of them." Konan announced coolly.

"That was so cool!" Vanille announced happily, with a shine in her eyes, causing Konan to sweat-drop at the fangirl like expression.

"Let's get going. I would be surprised if we didn't attract at least some attention with all of the explosions due to the bombs blowing up." Sazh pointed out, causing the two women to agree with his suggestion. They quickly made their way through the entrance that the giant gates revealed, only to find that it was merely a cave, a cave that led to a beautiful sight if they wanted to see it.

"You must be tired, want to take a break?" Vanille asked the older members of the group as they neared the other side of the cave, which had a waterfall nearby. Konan merely nodded stiffly, while Sazh looked around the area curiously.

"We've got to sleep somewhere. Does this look okay?" Sazh asked the two women he was travelling with.

"It's fine." Konan told the man, before she jumped up and landed on the rocks above her, opposite to the waterfall.

"Uh-yeah, fine by me!" Vanille seemed happy enough with the conditions. She pulled out a worn out blanket from one of the machines, before she laid it out perfectly for someone to sleep on. "All set. Okay, goodnight!" Vanille waved to Sazh, before she lay on the blanket.

"Not a care in the world." Sazh sighed as he looked at Vanille, though he spared Konan a glance, who was laying on the rock above Vanille, staring up at the sky. The oldest member of the group walked over to Vanille, only for the girl to sit up quickly, grab a stick and proceed to draw a line across where she was. "What?" Sazh asked in a tone of disbelief.

"Do not cross this line. Understood?" Vanille ordered, causing Sazh to give the girl a look of annoyance, before he pointed at Konan, who was watching this interaction with a look of amusement. "She's a girl, you're a boy." Vanille answered Sazh's unasked question.

"Grow up." That was Sazh's only response to that.

"And good night again," Vanille smiled happily at the man.

"Would you just go to sleep already?" Sazh grumbled out in annoyance, causing the young girl to lie on the blanket with her back facing Sazh. The older man proceeded to lie on his side, with his back facing Vanille, wanting nothing more than to get some sleep.

A few hours later however, Sazh would find himself waking up to the sounds of sobbing, causing the man to look behind him, where Vanille was now lying next to him, her back against his sobbing quietly in her sleep, Konan was however, still laying on the rocks above them, sleeping silently by herself.

"Still a kid," Sazh sighed to himself, before he found himself falling asleep once more, trying to ignore the sobs coming from a scared girl.

* * *

In the skies high in the air a fleet of airships were flying through the air, surrounded a bigger ship, inside the ship were Snow and Fang.

"Couldn't run if you wanted to," Fang told Snow, who merely dismissed what the woman said to him, however, out of the clouds behind them, a gigantic ship appeared behind their ship, making it seemed like a fish out of water compare to the one that they were in.

"Hoo-hoo-hoo! Look at you! Wonder what's under the hood of that thing?" Snow could help but sound impressed by the ship before him.

"Keep your pants on. You'll get a peek soon enough. Just try and behave." Fang told the tall blond.

"I'm not going to make any promises." Snow admitted as he walked towards Fang, not like he could do much with his hands cuffed together.

"Cheeky boy aren't ya? We'll see how long that lasts." Fang mused, sounding as if she was going to enjoy the experience together. Soon enough, their little ship was attached to the gigantic one and they were to go inside sooner rather than later.

* * *

Once they were inside the ship, many members of the guardian corps looked at the entrance of the main hanger as the doors were opened to reveal Snow being escorted inside of the hanger by a small squad of Guardian Corps plus Fang. Another member of the Corps quickly made his way to Fang in a hurry.

"He's come to meet you." The man relayed a message to Fang, who merely made a sound that signalled that she understood. They were met halfway by a black haired man, wearing an all white uniform.

"Halt." One of the men escorting Snow ordered, causing the squad to stop, while the man before them stopped as well, just a few feet before Snow.

"You must be Snow." The man was soft spoken, though from the way that the Guardian Corps saluted him as he walked past them earlier, he was most likely the leader of the group. The man held out his hand for Snow to shake. "Cid Raines, Brigadier general of the fleet." Cid introduced himself to Snow calmly.

"Hi, Cid thanks for the Escort." Snow replied calmly, politely in a way, though it could be considered sarcasm as well. Cid dropped his hand almost immediately.

"Apologises, I just had a few questions to ask you." Cid admitted calmly, just as three Watchdrones made their way past with a crystallized Serah behind them, undamaged and untouched. "If it works like they tell us that means that she completed her focus."

"Serah!" Snow cried out about to try and reach her, only for Fang to block his way, who rammed her forearm underneath Snow's chin, shaking her head at him in disapproval.

"Fulfilled her focus as a tainted Pulse L'Cie, that is." Cid finished his little speech looking behind him at the crystallized Serah, before turning back at Snow, who was shoved back into the squad of Guardian Corps that was escorting him.

"You think she was out to hurt Cocoon?" Snow asked loudly, as the men held him back hoping he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"I'd hardly be alone if I did." Cid pointed out to Snow. "When it comes to Pulse, who can claim to know anything? I need the truth, for the sake of Cocoon." Cid announced to the tall blond.

"'The sake of Cocoon' ..." Snow repeated slowly. "We're from Cocoon! Shipping us out, Purging innocent people... That's how you lend us a hand?" Snow reacted angrily to what Cid was saying.

"Those are the Sanctum's methods." Cid pointed out to Snow. "The public fears what it doesn't know. It grows tired of living in constant terror of these threats from the world below. So, the Sanctum devised a plan for you L'Cie." Cid explained.

"I'll bet." Snow muttered sarcastically.

"A public execution," Cid informed Snow of the plan that had been made, causing Snow to try and force himself out of the soldier's grips, but he couldn't do it. "The people don't know any better. Strike down the phantoms before their eyes, and they sleep like babes." Cid continued.

"No!" Snow forced his way out of the soldiers' grips and was about to attack Cid, only for Fang to kick him in the face, sending the blond haired man onto his back.

"The Sanctum has intelligence on the other L'Cie already. It's only a matter of time." Cid informed the man who was on his back with at least three guns being pointed at his body.

"You'll never catch them." Snow snarled at the man before him, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

"I see. We'll need your help then, won't we?" Cid finished the conversation there and then with those words, for he had already started to walk off, not giving Snow the change to respond. Snow meanwhile was forced onto his stomach by Fang.

"Serah ..."

* * *

Meanwhile on the same ship, they had unknowingly taken someone else on board, another man.

"So this ship is called the Lindblum and is the headquarters of the Sanctum Guardian Corps?" A blond haired teenager mused as he read through the reports in an office, scratching his whiskered cheek in annoyance. "Needs a better name, and a better colour, it should be orange for god sake." Naruto's clone sighed as he looked around the room he found himself in, seriously, keeping all of this information was good for storage and all, but if one of their enemies, like him for example found his way onboard and wanted ways to take down this place, all he needed to go through these reports and he'd find the answer. Not that he wanted to do so of course, Snow and Serah were on board, and it wouldn't give him any help either, if what he had seen from the reports written by Cid Raines were anything to go by.

"Better get going, don't want to blow my cover already." Naruto's clone smirked, before he prepared the Henge Jutsu to transform himself into an invisible insect that couldn't be seen by anything in the place, if there was one thing he didn't need to worry about, it was someone killing him, for he was given enough power to create his own clones, and after sleeping the night off, he could also gain more chakra back, even if the boss didn't realize it.

"All and all, this turned out to be an unexpected reward for us, since I managed to stay alive for so long." The clone mused. "I better sent a newsflash of Snow's meeting with Cid, plus the fact that they also have another L'Cie already working for them." The clone mused. "Though it'll have to wait until morning, I know how much boss hates getting woken up in the middle of the night by information storage coming in at night.

The poor clone didn't even know that Naruto had already suffered that once already tonight, oh well, it could have been worse for him.

* * *

_Naruto blinked as he looked around him, why was he standing on a battlefield? What was going on?_

"_Sasuke, I'm here to stop you!" Naruto froze when he heard Sakura's voice ring through in the area, it was at that moment that Naruto realized that they were standing at a bridge, a bridge which had a giant creator in the middle of it. But there was another woman there was as well, though she was close to death however._

"_Stop me? Pity, you would have made a good replacement for Karin, though it doesn't matter anymore." Sasuke was heard speaking now, something that made Naruto pale in fright. "Then you are simply in the way, goodbye, Sakura."_

'_Where am I?' Naruto thought with panic, before he made his way past a tree, only to hear Sakura gasp in pain and saw the sight that made him want to scream. Sasuke, had impaled Sakura with a Chidori in the chest, and the teenager seemed to enjoying every second of it._

"_What a shame, I would have thought that you would have put up at least as good of a fight as Naruto would have done. Looks like I was wrong." Sasuke mused slowly, before a crazed look graced his features beautifully, grinning widely as he yanked his arm out from Sakura's chest ruthlessly, allowing her to fall to the ground with a shocked look on her face, wondering where things had all gone wrong._

"_Sasuke ... stop ... please." Naruto turned to find another woman, one with red hair lying on her front, wearing the same outfit as Sasuke was, only she was bleeding heavily, close to death._

"_Will just shut up woman, you were destined to die when I declared that you were a burden to me!" Sasuke laughed happily, before he straddled the woman and brought his kunai up. It was that moment Naruto wished to get out of this ... nightmare, to watch Sasuke, the man he considered his brother, the one he wanted to bring back to Konoha repeatedly stabbing a woman, laughing madly as he did so was not what something that he wanted to see. He wanted to scream, he wanted to charge at Sasuke and stop him, but he couldn't move, his body wouldn't listen to his commands. Sasuke finally got off of the other woman who was clearly dead, for the kunai Sasuke had used to kill her was still stuck in the back of her skull._

"_Why ... why is he doing this?" Naruto uttered in horror, which become worse when Sasuke suddenly straddled Sakura, looking down at her with a bloodstained face that held his crazed look in place._

"_Now Sakura, it's time for to erase all memory of Team 7 forever." Sasuke whispered as he brought up another kunai. Naruto screamed at long last and charged at Sasuke, only to go through him. The blond turned quickly when he heard Sakura scream just before he witnessed Sasuke impaling Sakura in the chest, laughing madly as he did so, he stabbed and stabbed and stabbed until his throat had become rare from laughing so hard. Naruto dropped to his knees in horror at the sight. It was at that moment that Naruto screamed and screamed until his voicebox had worn itself out. Sasuke finally turned to the blond with a crazed look on his face._

"_This is all your fault dobe, if you haven't had died, none would have happened!" Sasuke announced as he crawled his way to Naruto, before holding his face with a look of pure happiness._

"_Sasuke ... you bastard," Naruto uttered as Sasuke powered up a chidori with a smile of a young child getting a brand new toy._

"_Goodbye, see you in hell!" Sasuke laughed as he impaled Naruto's head with a chidori, causing him to be covered in a rain of blood._

_When Naruto would wake up moments later, his view of Sasuke would be forever changed, for he truly saw what revenge could do to a person, and at that moment decided that he wouldn't allow Hope to follow down this path, for he didn't want him to become like Sasuke had done._

* * *

**Chapter 9 complete.**

**Did you think what I did at the was too dark? Because personally I think it's what would have happened if Nagato never revived the people in Konoha that he killed, and if Naruto ended up in another world.**

**Oh right! That's what's happened in this story! That's what would have happened! Though that was Naruto's nightmare.**

**Sasuke and Sakura appeared in Naruto's dream, along with Karin. Sasuke killed both of the women and blames it on Naruto before killing him as well. Now, Sasuke isn't going to appear physically, just in Naruto's dreams.**

**I'm evil, right?**

**Personally I did that for a more dramatic effect ... plus I wanted to add more stuff to the chapter, but can I be blamed?**

**Anyway, I wasn't actually expecting to get so many positive reviews for my rant in the last chapter, no seriously I wasn't.**

**I also wasn't expecting such a great response to seeing Itachi in the fic either, I was expecting many people complaining about it if I'm honest with you there.**

**There is also an annoucement I would like to make regrading this fic as well, something important.**

**I will focusing on only the Gran Pulse Sage for now on.**

**Why is that do you ask? Well ... it's pretty childish to be perfectly honest with you.**

**I know that Gravenimage has been writing his Naruto/FFXIII fic '****Legend of the Defiers**' and ... it's gotten near to the amount of reviews this story has.

**... In other words I took it as a challenge and decided that I'm going to focus only on this fic, since that the only fic he's focusing on at the moment because his computer fucked up.**

**Childish right?**

**I took it as a challenge, but as a friendly challenge. I actually encourage people to write Naruto/FFXIII crossovers because there's not many out there.**

**Also, I'm looking forward to the FFXIII-2 game that comes out next year, I will get it, and I will play it, before I decide if I should make a sequel to this fic or not.**

**Seriously, it looks like a good game, plus we also have a brand new main character ... Serah ... who isn't excited by that?**

**Wait ... that was spoilers to the next game ... wasn't it? Oops? Nevermind, it's gonna come out soon anyway.**

**I also have a list of fights that I want you to answer for, you know? Like who will win this fight and stuff. Well here we go.**

**Naruto vs. Lightning**

**Itachi vs. Fang**

**Naruto and Lightning vs. Itachi and Fang**

**Who do you think will win those fights?**

* * *

**Scenes gone wrong**

"Well would you look at that, our way back is blocked." Naruto told Lightning, signaling that they couldn't just leave Hope here, even if that was what Lightning wanted. Naruto pulled his buster sword from his back and pointed it at his new enemies. "Well, might as well use you idiots as a test run." Naruto shrugged confidently, before he launched himself at the Corp Gunners and the PSICOM tracker. One of them was cut cleanly in half by Naruto's attack alone. Lightning sliced through another of them, while Hope proceeded to use his Fire spells to blow the others up. Soon it was only the PSICOM Tracker left and Naruto allowed his sword to shift into a Gunblade, which he allowed to swing in the air cockily.

"You choose the wrong time to do this." Lightning growled.

"Easy Lightning, don't want to get too pissed with the bastard, you might get caught off guard." Naruto grinned cockily as he caught his Gunblade and pointed it at himself, before accidentally pulling the trigger and blowing his own brains out.

"Naruto!"

* * *

**... That could have happened and you know it.**

* * *

**Scenes gone wrong 2**

"Sorry, never needed to do so beforehand at home." Naruto shrugged, not really too sure what else to say in response. Vanille seemed to accept the blonde's reason pretty quickly, while Hope and Sazh were somewhat slower than Vanille at accepting it, they had looked like that they had put a lot of thought into it, while Lightning didn't look like that she was just going to accept that at all.

"Just how do you think that I will ever be able to forgive or accept you for what you did?" Lightning demanded getting right into Naruto's face, causing the blond to frown before he turned and walked away.

"I really don't care at the ..." Naruto started, only for a piece of debris to suddenly slammed right into his head, making the blond stumble around drunkenly before he fall from the stairs to the level below, landing with a loud 'crash'.

"NARUTO!"

"**FREEDOM! I'M BACK AT LONG LAST!" **Kyuubi's voice could be heard screaming outas he used Naruto's body to jump onto the pillar in the middle of the room, looking very pleased with himself, not noticing the large piece of rock directly above him becoming loose because of his demonic chakra. His blood red eyes staring directly at the slightly disturbed group, who by all means had no idea what to do next or what was going to happen next, the demon using Naruto's body pointed at the group of L'Cie with an evil glint in his eyes. "**I WILL KILL YOU ALL AND ..."** Kyuubi started, only to dodge a falling rock that would have smashed his head had he not moved at the last second. "**... That was a bit close.**" Kyuubi blinked, before he grinned evilly and looked at the group of L'Cie. "**KILLING TIME!"**

"NOOOOOOOOO!" And the demon possessed boy killed the entire group of L'Cie and ate their remains therefore breaking Naruto's mind where Kyuubi remained in control for the rest of the time, and Kyuubi later destroyed Cocoon and Pulse, ending all life as we know it, the end!

* * *

**I just got some people killed, I just got some people killed ... okay I feel like laughing now.**

**I'm a sick bastard and I know it.**

**Anyway, until next time, goodbye and goodnight. ... And I sorry for breaking the 4th wall if that pissed you off ... no seriously, I'm sorry.**

**Goodbye and goodnight.**


	10. The Gapra Whitewood – Part 1

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, this is a challenge given to me by N.A.B. 0206**

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

The Gapra Whitewood – Part 1

* * *

It was beautiful. The trees and their sheer size and beauty was the first thing that shouted out to Naruto as they entered Gapra Whitewood, a place that Lightning had decided that they would be using to get to Palumpolum, Hope's hometown, to shake off any armed forces that could have been nearby. But Lightning never told Naruto about the magnificent trees that had been around the area, the giant white leaves that belonged to the trees seemed to shine in the light as well. The trees towered over the group of L'Cie allowing no light to pierce through the vegetation, while the forest floor was a dangerous wilderness that was populated by wildlife, so a long pathway had been built that was called the Proto-ecology Belt. It was this pathway that the group of L'Cie (plus Naruto) were on.

"I never knew that such beauty could exist in the hands of the dark slime known as corruption." Naruto uttered as Lightning and himself both hide behind a giant leaf that was at least three times the size of both of them, the perfect hiding place if they ever needed it. Lightning had her gunblade in hand, ready to defence herself, Naruto and Hope, if she ever needed to. Naruto meanwhile had Gilgamesh in hand, though this time as a double ended blade. "Did you know such a place existed?"

"Yes, though I never had a mission here before." Lightning told the blond quietly, so that if there was anyone nearby, no-one could hear them. She suddenly made a signal to Hope, who quickly made his way to the older members of the group.

"Can't believe we made it," Hope admitted to the older duo, while Naruto's face was graced with a cocky grin.

"Of course we made it, I'm here as well as Lightning, don't think that there's anything that can beat us together, especially when we add you to the mix Hope." Naruto announced, sounding really confident in their abilities. Suddenly the gate behind them the giant triangular door they had gone through closed shut tight, causing Hope to turn quickly at the sound.

"That will slow down pursuit." Lightning announced, feeling pleased with this fact.

"But, aren't there troops on this side? We can't relax just yet." Hope asked, before declaring an obvious fact.

"Right," Lightning agreed just as Naruto was about to say something, though his closed his mouth quickly afterwards. "We press on. I'll take point, Naruto, you take the minute, Hope, you watch our backs." Lightning gave the orders, Naruto nodded in response to agree with his orders. Lightning turned to leave.

"Actually ..." Hope suddenly interrupted, causing Lightning to pause and Naruto to turn to Hope with a curious expression. "Why don't you let me take point?" This time Lightning turned to Hope, while Naruto raised an eyebrow at the boy, he could tell that Hope was nervous, but something about him seemed ... to relish the challenge. That caused Naruto to blink and think about Sasuke for some reason, back to when they were protecting the bridge builder, but that made Naruto remember the nightmare that he suffered the night before, Sasuke murdering Sakura with that crazed look on his face. Naruto shivered, wondering why that came up now of all times.

"Can you handle it?" Lightning's voice broke Naruto's thoughts (thankfully), to which Hope responded by running forward, taking the lead of the group.

"It's not a question of can or can't." Hope declared, quoting Lightning directly.

"Now you're learning." Lightning told the boy with a smile. Naruto blinked as he looked at Lightning, something about seeing the woman with a smile just seemed to make her look friendly and ... beautiful. Naruto blushed as these thoughts reached his mind, wondering just why they came up now of all times. Hope had smiled at the approval that he had gotten from the leader of the group and had proceeded to take the lead. "Keep your eyes front. I'll handle the rear." Lightning told the boy.

"I'm not useless you know, so I'll be doing a bit of both." Naruto told them both dramatically, creating a shadow clone to prove his point, getting an almost amused look from Lightning, and a grin from Hope.

"Got it," Hope sounded both serious and grateful, but above all, he sounded pretty calm now.

"We've got your back, you call the shots now." Lightning told the silver haired boy as they started to go down the long path.

"Don't stray too far ahead Hope, doing things together is better than doing things on your own." Naruto called out to the boy, who nodded, taking in both pieces of advice from the older members of the group.

It didn't take too long for something to attack the group of three, four slug like creatures decided that they seemed like easy enough prey to assault, though they were quickly defeated, for even though they were in a bigger group, they weren't able to stand up to the magic of the L'Cie, not by a long shot. Naruto examined the remains of the creature that they found out during the fight was called the Frag Leech, though they didn't know why they were even considered dangerous enough to keep in the Gapra Whitewood, where all of the dangerous animals were experimented on to make for the future bioweapons.

"These things are weak." Naruto muttered in annoyance.

"That's a good thing. It makes it easier for us to continue." Lightning pointed out bluntly.

"True, but there has to be something that will push our limits around here somewhere." Naruto complained, much to Hope's surprise and Lightning's annoyance.

"So you want to die because you wanted a challenge?" Lightning felt a sudden urge to punch the blond. "Stop thinking about being so reckless you stupid idiot," Lightning glared at the blond.

"You don't get it! I want something to push our limits so we can get even stronger!" Naruto announced with his arms wide open at his side, making Lightning blink. "If we fight something that can push our limits, than we can get even stronger, make it more like a war and cause more damage when we get to Eden." Naruto announced to Lightning, causing the pink-haired soldier to blink at that statement. In the end, she had to concede to Naruto there, even though it was reckless.

"Fine, I get it, but let's not try to look for trouble." Lightning sighed, sounding annoyed with Naruto, who grinned brilliantly before turning to Hope, who was twitching slightly for some reason.

"Something wrong Hope?" Naruto asked with a confused look on his face, causing Hope's face to cringe up into a look of disbelief, before shaking his head, not wanting to even bother anymore.

"We're not going to be attacking the monsters here, are we?" Hope asked, dreading the answer that was to come his way.

"Of course not," Naruto and Lightning answered at the same time, causing the battle-harden couple to look at each other at the same time, wondering what caused that to be answered at the same time.

"You don't want to fight any of the monsters here?" Lightning asked with a raised eyebrow, causing Naruto to give her a look of annoyance.

"Of course I'm not stupid enough to attack anything head-on like some kind of idiot when Hope is still trying to get stronger and we're trying to teach him the best way to use his powers, even if I'm no longer a L'Cie, I still want to make sure that you both make it out of here alive, preferable not being captured by those PSICOM guys, or even though Guardian Corps you talked about earlier." Naruto explained and both he and Lightning were about to say something at the same time when Hope suddenly interrupted.

"Why do you make seem like I'm either going to run away or die when we hit a bit of trouble!" Hope demanded, causing both Naruto and Lightning to slowly look at the young teenager, who seemed a little frustrated at both of the older members of the group. Naruto blinked and gave Lightning a confused look, who ignored him, before he turned to Hope again, still looking confused by what the teenager had said.

"I didn't mean to make it sound like that in all honesty." Naruto admitted, sounding somewhat surprised by what was being said. "So, I'm sorry for insulting you." Naruto apologized.

"Fine," Hope still didn't sound happy though, much to Naruto's annoyance. But he wasn't looking where he was going though, but mostly he didn't see the Frag Leeches and the Thexteron ahead, causing the more battle experienced members of the group to rush forward and destroy the leeches with magic, before jumping together at the same time slicing the Thexteron to pieces while it roared in agony, leaving a stunned Hope realizing just how close he had come to losing his life because he had gotten upset with Naruto.

"What the hell were you doing!" Naruto and Lightning demanded angrily, making Hope feel smaller all of a sudden at both of their angry faces, alone it wasn't too both, but both at the same time, especially since Naruto was normally the carefree part of the duo, while Lightning normally kept her cool as well ... at least when she wasn't around Naruto anyway.

"..." Hope couldn't find an answer or an excuse to give them, he just felt too guilty to do anything else. Naruto sighed before he turned to Lightning, who in turn started their whispered conversation.

"How do you think we should handle the situation?" Lightning asked the blond quietly, who looked thoughtful about what should be done.

"I say we should give him another chance, say that this incident was his one and only warning, and that if he does something the endangers his, the rest of the team, then he should no longer take point." Naruto gave his suggestion, causing Lightning to think over it briefly, before she nodded.

"I like it, let's do it." Lightning told the blond, who nodded in agreement. They both turned to Hope, who still seemed a little guilty about what had happened.

"Alright Hope, we're prepared to give you another chance, yes, even Lightning." Naruto started, only to add the end bit when Hope looked incredulous, which Lightning wonder whether or not she should be insulted by that. "But, and this is a big but, if you do something stupid again, you're no longer taking point. Understood?"

"Got it," Hope nodded quickly. He was more than grateful to be getting another chance, whether or not he deserved one was still beyond him. They were soon quickly attacked by a couple of Thexteron, but this time Hope was prepared and helped Lightning and Naruto kill them before any real harm could be done, getting a grin out of Naruto and a small smile out of Lightning. It wasn't too long before they reached what appeared to be a lift. Hope turned around a looked at Lightning with a curious expression over his features.

"Have you ever been here before? On duty I mean." Hope asked the pink haired soldier curiously.

"No, I haven't. This area is covered by the Woodlands Observation Battalion." Lightning answered Hope's question easily, walking towards the lift, only to turn back to the boy after taking a few steps forward. "You scared?"

"No really. I'm ready to fight if I have to." Hope admitted nervously. It was obvious that Lightning and Naruto could see he was nervous, but it was Lightning who reached into one of her pouches and gave Hope what appeared to be a knife.

"To keep you safe," Lightning answered Hope's unasked question as he took the knife. "I'll want it back." She started walking towards Naruto, who had by then already gotten to the lift and was sitting down looking towards them curiously.

"Lightning, Naruto." Hope suddenly called out both of their names, causing Lightning to turn and Naruto to blink in curiousness. "I'm glad I followed you. By myself, I would have had no chance." Hope told them both, making Naruto wave dismissively as he stood up.

"I honestly would have taken you with me anyway, even if Lightning hadn't wanted me to do so, you looked like you wanted the help." Naruto told the young teenager, while Lightning felt her jaw twitch in annoyance. Seriously, was Naruto out to piss her off in every way possible? "But ignore that for now, we need to keep moving." Naruto told them both as he looked at the duo curiously, not like he could work this lift or whatever it was now could he? Lightning decided to ignore what Naruto had said as Hope pressed the button that activated the lift, which caused Naruto to start muttering to himself about his lack of knowledge on technology.

"Trust us to cover your tail Hope, and you stay focused on moving forward." Lightning told the young teenager causing him to nod in response as he proceeded to lead the way. "Keep calm, no need to rush." Lightning called out to the young boy as they found their blocked by a couple of growling Thexteron. But they were quickly taken care of by the group of three, for this time they were all prepared and ready to fight if they needed to. Hope had started things off with a Fire spell, before Naruto and Lightning did their newly made slicing combination to slice the first Thexteron to pieces. The second Thexteron paused hesitating for a moment, before attempting to use its speed to its advantage, but Naruto had managed to use one of his spells to speed everyone up and was ripping the monster jaw off in a flash, while Lightning shot it in the head, while Hope accidentally caused its head to explode. Naruto simply scoffed, before he kicked the beheaded bioweapon off the platform into the wilderness below, where there was sound of other monsters eating the bioweapon's remains like a swarm of bees to nectar.

"I think we're scaring them." Naruto announced suddenly with a somewhat surprised but amused expression on his face. "That is so cool."

"Hm," Lightning didn't seem to care too much about it from her reaction.

"Naruto ... we're not even near the exit yet." Hope pointed out with a deadpanned expression, making the blond turn to the youngest member of the trio with a surprised expression, before holding his head dramatically.

"I always knew that there was a potential that Hope might have been an emo!" Naruto declared dramatically.

"I'm not!" Hope snapped at Naruto with wide eyes. "Then what about Lightning! She just grunts and kills things all the time when we're battling!" Hope demanded, getting a glare out of the pink haired soldier, not that he could see it.

"Well Hope, I just try not to say anything that might piss her off." Naruto admitted slowly, as he noticed the woman's glare was now fixed onto him. '_Man, I never knew how hot women could when they're pissed off ... the fuck! Why am I thinking that now, again?'_

"Eh ..." Hope suddenly realized what he was saying and how close the person he was saying this about was, as he slowly but surely turned to face Lightning with an extremely pale look. It was needless to say he was a little terrified right now. "Please don't kill me ... I want to help you destroy Eden."

"Whatever." Lightning merely dismissed his comment and threw a fire spell at one of the Frag Leeches, causing it to blow up in slime and goo, before she did the same with the other one, which had managed to jump in the air only to be destroyed easily. Two Thexterons roared as he leaped at Lightning, only for the soldier to shot one of the in the head and slice the other one in half. She turned to Naruto and Hope who were watching her with terrified looks, shaking slightly as they did so.

"Let's get a move on." Lightning growled as she started leading the way. "Hope, you're taking point, Naruto, you're between me and him, got it!"

"Yes Light!" Both males replied quickly, rushing to get to their positions. Though Naruto was crying anime tears wondering why he had to be taking the glares more than Hope.

'_Weird.'_ Lightning was having strange thoughts as well. '_I never knew just how funny it was to have men looking ready to shit themselves in fear because I'm acting like I'm in a foul mood.' _Lightning actually sounded amused by this point. '_Though Naruto ... can't believe I'm thinking this ... Naruto does have a nice backside.'_

'_Why do I want to cry all of a sudden?'_ Naruto thought fearfully.

* * *

Itachi was busy looking through several files. He had used a Genjutsu to trick Jihl into allowing him access to quite a few important files aka all of them so he could study for things in the future, to study the world he was now in and its technology. Itachi looked focused on his task at hand.

"I wonder, what the 4th Hokage would think of what I'm planning on doing to Naruto-kun ... for his safety, for the legacy of the 4th Hokage." Itachi mused as he took out a file and activated his Sharingan to copy its contents easily. Not like he could afford to make any mistakes or anything, this had to be done perfectly, for Jihl will never realize or remember that she had been tricked by an illusion to begin with. Itachi's eyes shined brightly as he copied more information for his plans for Naruto-kun.

* * *

The Vespid, the trio of companions learnt was not weak to any elements, but had a low stagger point which could be easily exploited thanks to the Libra spell that had become so useful ever since they learnt it. Though there was also the fact that the Vespid could use powerful fire attacks, Hope had managed to learn the Barfire, which made all fire spells/attacks weaker and practically protects everyone from fire. Naruto had activated his Rinnegan part the way through and proceeded to attempt to control some monsters, only to fail once again, because they weren't strong enough to do anything significant. Though Naruto knew that at the moment there was simply no way that he could take control over a Behemoth at the moment due to its sheer size and strength alone could break his hold, but other things had to be taken for granted, though Naruto didn't want to try experiments for now. Though he had crushed some monsters using his Shinra Tensei a few times already, but he already knew that he could do that.

"We're not going near that Behemoth, for obvious reasons." Naruto announced, sparing a glance at Lightning, who looked realized, obviously still remembering what happened at Lake Bresha. Traumatisation wasn't easy to get over was it now? Hope and Naruto easily understood Lightning's reasoning for not wanting to go near one as of this time.

"We seem to be going through everything pretty easily so far." Hope mused nervously, though considering he was still a kid that was learning how to fight, it was perfectly understandable. Suddenly the young teen looked up and gasped a little.

"What is it?" Lightning asked with caution, knowing what might be about to happen.

"We need to hide!" Hope announced as he dragged Lightning behind some giant leaf that was in their path, while Naruto simply followed, knowing what the problem was already. Suddenly overhead, three members of the Woodlands Observation Battalion in their bikes flew overhead, but there was something strange about the way they went past. "They don't seem like they're even looking for us. I mean, we're L'Cie, apart from Naruto, and we're on the loose." Hope announced, only to add the part about Naruto, who nodded thankfully since his mark had already died.

"PSICOM's keeping it all under wraps." Lightning realized suddenly, before she told Hope and Naruto the situation, though the latter seem to have realized this as well already. "They don't want their failure publicized. Better to lose us than lose their pride." Lightning told them, which made Naruto frown and muttered something about a lack of intelligence from these soldiers.

"So the other soldiers don't know about us, right?" Hope asked the pink haired soldier (or ex-soldier) about the situation.

"Right, they don't know _anything_ about any fugitives." Lightning sounded pleased with the current situation.

"And that's another reason I hate your military, seriously I hate being left in the dark for this reason! Talk about a lack of professionalism." Naruto grumbled in annoyance, sounding happy he didn't even bother joining the military in this world ... of dimension for that matter. "And what do you know? Another lift," Naruto sighed as he got on with the two L'Cie who were giving him annoyed looks.

"Naruto, stop whining," Lightning glared at the blond, who simply huffed in annoyance, while Hope activated the lift which descended instead of going uphill this time.

"Can't help it," Naruto muttered to himself, wondering why a bunch of idiots were in charge of the military. Naruto then spotted some Thexteron ahead charging towards them once more, but Naruto simply slammed two Rasengans into their skulls, causing their heads to explode and fall over the side like the rotting corpses they were going to become.

'_Wait a second ... why am I making this chapter more bloody than it needs to be?'_ Naruto thought with a confused look on his face. '_Wait ... I'm confusing myself now, never mind, being pissed off at this world's army if messing with my head.'_

"**Really, who would have thought that someone like you, who used be the worst at what he did, could ever be pissed off at other people doing it?"** Kyuubi suddenly made his presence known to his jailor.

'_Well, I was only a kid at the time, someone who didn't have a clue at what the real world was like, though I can't be blamed for most part, since most of the teachers never liked me enough to bother teaching me stuff like that.'_ Naruto thought darkly. '_Except for Iruka ... and he's probably dead ... at the hands of Nagato and Konan ... why didn't I get Nagato to revive everyone!'_

"**Because you didn't think it through very well, because you were already in the jutsu that took you to this world before you could do anything about it, or maybe you just gave up hope on our home world, gave up hope on seeing your precious team together ever again."** Kyuubi laughed cruelly at the thoughts running through his host's heads. "**You better get over it soon ... or else you die and I'll destroy this world as well ... because I gained freedom when you died and fulfilled their little Focus for them ... attacking Eden and destroying the Sanctum, that would create nothing by chaos and destruction and panic and best of all, MADNESS!"**

'_No ... no ... no ... no,' _Naruto's face twisted into an expression filled with fear and horror. There had to be a better fate than that for this world, even if he didn't like its corruption, it didn't mean that the innocents had to die, did it?

"Naruto ... pay attention ... seriously." Naruto felt someone slap his face, only to find that it was Lightning, with what appeared to be a slightly concerned expression.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked several times to realize that Hope was also looking concerned. "Did I space out or something?"

"Yes, you did." Lightning frowned slightly. "What's bothering you? You never space out unless you're thinking too hard or something bad has happened."

"Wait a minute ... this is the first time that this has happened ... me spacing out I mean." Naruto frowned.

"It's not ... this is the 4th time that this has happened now." Lightning admitted. "I didn't make such a big deal beforehand because I hadn't care, while Hope said that he thought that it was normal."

I see," Naruto blinked again, wondering how long this had been going on for. He didn't think it happened before hand, unless he had been unaware of it or something.

"Are you going to be okay with what's ahead Lightning?" Hope asked the pink haired soldier as he looked ahead to see a Behemoth and two Thexterons seemingly blocking the way. Lightning simply grunted, while Naruto started powering up for a Rasenshuriken.

"I'll open up a gap for you to take advantage of, shall I?" Naruto mused before he launched the Rasenshuriken at the monsters ahead of them. The Behemoth took the attack hold on and practically blew up upon impact, while the Thexterons barely avoided the attack, only for Lightning to slice through one of them, while Hope used his boomerang laced up with a fire spell to blow up the other one.

"I could have taken the Behemoth." Lightning told Naruto simply, only for the blond to shrug.

"For all I know you're still a little scared of the Behemoth." Naruto pointed out with a deadpanned expression. "And your grunting didn't help."

"Whatever," Lightning frowned.

"What's that thing ahead of us anyway?" Naruto asked curiously as they walked towards what seemed to be some kind of barrier.

"One of the bulkhead Fal'Cie," Lightning answered almost immediately. "Be on your guard."

"Right," Naruto and Hope nodded in response to that, since Lightning seemed to know what she was doing. When they got to the Fal'Cie, Hope sat down and started holding his right leg as if he had hurt it.

"I wonder how the others are doing." Hope admitted suddenly.

"Sazh, Vanille and Konan?" Lightning asked the young teen as she paced about in front of the Fal'Cie. "Who knows? Even if they got away, they'll get caught eventually. Then they'll have to choose: resist or surrender."

"I somehow don't see Konan giving up her freedom." Naruto admitted smoothly. "If she's like I think she is, she's too clever to get caught, though with Sazh and Vanille ... I don't know."

"Surrender..." Hope uttered the word that he thought that they'd do. Suddenly he looked up with an angry look on his face, something that surprised Naruto. "Do you think _he's_ still alive?" Naruto suddenly get treated to a flash of past where Sasuke was wearing a similar expression when he asked about Itachi's whereabouts.

"You mean Snow?" Lightning asked, having turned to face the boy. She suddenly huffed in annoyance. "He's too stubborn to die. And that's his best quality. He's arrogant and chummy for the get-go. He thinks he's everybody's pal. Never liked him much," Lightning explained Snow's qualities (in her eyes at least) to the younger members of the group.

"Your sister liked him though, isn't that why she's engaged to him?" Naruto pointed out suddenly.

"He leads around a gang of kids." Lightning just flat out ignored the blond's comment. "A gang called 'NORA'."

"Where did they get the name 'Nora'?" Hope asked the soldier, though Naruto could see a tint of rage in the boy's eyes, much to his surprise.

"It's a stupid acronym, their little code. Stands for 'No Obligations, Rules, or Authority', must be nice." Lightning explained, though you could literally see the sarcasm from the last three words.

"Kind of reminds me of these three kids who used to follow me around everywhere." Naruto mused to himself. "They were eight at the time and they used to call me boss and everything, though the leader, a kid named after my home village aimed to beat me up in a fight to prove he was stronger in the end, though that never happened." Naruto admitted, after getting curious looks from both Lightning and Hope. "That was fun while it lasted." Suddenly the pathway was opened and Hope quickly got to his feet.

"It's irresponsible." Hope snapped as he stalked through the entrance, leaving Naruto and Lightning to give surprised looks to each other, before following the young boy in, wondering what the boy hated about Snow.

"Well then ..." Lightning didn't know what else to say to that. It wasn't too long before they were on a lift, which one again descended to the level below, only this time they were at the lowest level possible. It was the darkest part of the facility from what could be seen.

"This feels like a place I'd rather not be at." Naruto mused as they walked into the facility.

"There are a lot of feral creatures down here too, only they're a little from the military breeds." Lightning announced, while Naruto looked around the area, raising an eyebrow as he did so once he saw some of the creatures ahead of them.

"Lightning, these creatures are not only bigger, but they are more dangerous looking as well, that's quite a bit of difference." Naruto told the pink haired soldier.

"This is an army facility for turning wildlife into weapons." Lightning told the two males.

"The civilians aren't allowed here, are they?" Hope asked cautiously.

"We'll have to be sure to tell them if we see any." Lightning appeared to make a joke, while Naruto frowned.

"This feels more like a prison, where the government is allowed to brainwash wildlife that they've captured into becoming mindless weapons that attack the enemies of Cocoon." Naruto growled angrily. "It makes me sick!"

"Naruto..." Lightning and Hope gave surprised expressions to the blonde's reaction to discovering what the facility was used for.

"We had to earn the right to be able to summon our companions!" Naruto was getting more and more angry. "What kind of crap excuse did they come up for allowing shit like this to happen?" Naruto' eyes changed into the evil blood red ones of the Kyuubi, red chakra started to leak out from his body.

"Naruto, stop getting angry about this when we need to focus," Naruto blinked as he heard Lightning's voice break through his malicious thoughts for the beings that were running this planet. His eyes changed back and the red chakra disappeared once more, but whether or not Lightning and Hope saw the chakra was something Naruto didn't know.

"Sorry about that, I'm a bit of an animal lover if you understand what I mean." Naruto admitted softly, though these kinds of animals before them were more like monsters than anything else.

"Naruto, you shouldn't let anger cloud your judgement, keeping your mind clear of rage is just one of the things needed to complete a task." Lightning told the blond, not sounding angry, but more understanding in a way. "But ... those fences ahead of us are keeping us in because they were made for keeping in the animals, we can't go any further unless we take care of our pen-mates." Lightning told the blond, who seemed to be focusing more than before, Naruto looked straight into Lightning's aqua-coloured eyes and nodded.

"Right, sorry, just a little frustrated with the people in charge." Naruto apologized for his outburst, he allowed Gilgamesh to change into twin swords this time. During this time, one of the three silver monsters, the Silver Lobo had spotted the group of three and was now charging at them at a pretty quick pace.

"Libra," Hope announced the spell as he scanned the monster charging at them. "It's strong against Ice, but weak against Fire! However ... it can also poison us!" Hope told the battle-hardened members of the group, just as the Lobo spat out a green mist that was heading their way. Naruto managed to jump above the green mist, while Lightning and Hope went around it. Naruto then proceed to throw one of his twin blades at the Silver Lobo, only for the monster to dodge. However it dodged right into Hope's fire spell, while Lightning appeared beside the staggered Lobo and literally launched it up into the air, while throwing the blade that Naruto had launched at the Lobo beforehand, piercing it from underneath its jaw, going through its brain. It was dead upon impact.

"Watch out!" Naruto shouted as he started to fall, having spotted two more Lobo's charging towards their direction, however both Lightning and Hope were ready, with Hope using the Fire spell quickly, on both of the monsters, while Lightning did the very same herself, having managed to learn the spell after watching Hope do it so often before.

"Fira," Suddenly Hope launched a fire spell that got both of the Silver Lobo at once, just before Naruto landed between them and did a spin with his blades sticking out, which caused the blond to sliced through both of the monsters so much that it caused both of the Lobo to collapse onto the ground, dead.

"That was a new spell ... it looked like an upgrade from the Fire spell." Lightning mused as she and Hope made their way towards Naruto, who was pulling out his weapons from the two Lobos and watch with a strange look, as they cleaned themselves with ease. The power fence that had been blocking their way was now down, meaning that the group of three could continue on.

"How did you know you could do it?" Naruto asked Hope, who looked confused himself.

"I didn't, I just wanted to use a fire spell that could hit both of the Silver Lobos and then the next thing I knew I was using the spell." Hope admitted, sounding more than a bit confused.

"Let's get moving now and figure out what Hope could do later." Lightning told her companions causing them to nod and follow her lead, only to find not two and not even three, but FIVE Silver Lobos down below, looking up at them hungrily. Naruto and Lightning looked at each other, before they both slowly turned to Hope, who seemed to understand what they wanted.

"Really," Hope looked at them nervously due to the expectation being placed on his shoulders.

"It'll help you get stronger." Lightning and Naruto told the boy at the same time.

"You sure," Hope asked the older members of the group.

"Of course," Naruto answered quickly.

"It's your big chance." Lightning added.

"Well, okay, if you say so." Hope didn't sound too convinced, but he looked down the ledge and proceed to get himself ready for the spell. "FIRA," Hope roared as he unleashed a massive burst of fire at the monsters below, the yelps of pain and agony of the Silver Lobo could be heard below as they were caught in the flames.

"Well done Hope, now it's time to finish them off." Naruto announced as he powered his blades with wind chakra, causing them to glow. "Get out of my sight!" Naruto yelled as he slash down towards the Lobo with his wind powered attacks, which caused a mini explosion to erupt, no doubt killing all of the Lobos. However, there was a chance that the explosions had been heard by the patrols, much to Naruto's annoyance. "Oops."

"Great, now all we need is for the patrols to come and attack us." Lightning grumbled in annoyance.

"I didn't know the explosion was going to happen." Naruto defended himself.

"Yes you did. It's how we took down the Manasvin Warmech back at Lake Bresha, where it was your idea to use that combo." Lightning pointed out with a scowl on her face. Hope sighed, remembering the bickering they both normally did. It was like an old couple bickering over the most stupid things for crying out loud.

"... Well I forget, okay?" Naruto frowned at Lightning.

"Great time to forget, when we're on the run." Lightning's scowl got worse.

"Oh do you expect me to remember things like that all the time? Well I'll tell you no. I don't have the best of memories, so excuse me for making mistakes." Naruto was glaring at Lightning now.

"You can as bad as Snow sometimes!" Lightning glared back. "No, I take that back, no-one's as bad as Snow."

"Guys, stop bickering like an old couple!" Hope snapped suddenly, just as Naruto as opening his mouth to say something, "if you want to act like you've been married for years, go ahead, but not here or now!" Hope told them, only to pale rapidly when he realized what he had said, and who he had said it to.

Now, imagine this from Hope's point of view. Lightning is by far the scariest person he has ever met, ever, and goes ahead and called Naruto and Lightning old, by saying that they were acting like an old couple. Women don't like it when you call them old, full stop, so how did you think Lightning, who had already attempted to slice Naruto in half, threatened to slice off his arm (and would go through with it) would react? Hope decided to do what he felt was probably the best option he could choose at that moment of time. Drop onto his knees and beg for his life.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to insult you!" Hope cried, anime tears falling rapidly, though nothing was happening, until a SMACK was heard from above.

"Was that because I called you old!" Naruto cried, making Hope look up and stare at the older members of the group, where Naruto and Lightning were from what it seemed, to wrestle with each other, and Lightning actually looked like she was winning. "Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Mercy! Mercy!" Naruto cried as Lightning was about to hurt him even more, before she let go, huffing in annoyance. She blinked as she looked down at a terrified Hope.

"Did we scare you Hope?" Lightning asked the teenager softly, sounding bad for actually scaring Hope if that was what she had accidentally done with what had happened.

"A ... a little bit." Hope admitted softly.

"Sorry." Lightning apologized to the young boy, while Naruto did the same moments later, after seeing the young boy's expression. Hope however, would never tell Lightning what he had said, in fear of what might happen to him.

* * *

Itachi Uchiha had gathered up all of the information that he needed in order to complete phase one of his plans for both Naruto and Konan, information was the most important part to any plan, for without knowledge, Itachi knew that he would be going in blind, and that was the last thing that he wanted to do. Still things had to be prepared.

"Naruto-kun must be captured alive, at all costs." Itachi mused to himself, keeping his voice down to make sure nothing could hear him, the camera and their sensors weren't working at the moment, and Itachi already made sure that they never saw him enter the room. "Though Konan ... it's not so important about her living when she's to be captured, after all, someone has to take the fall, and it's definitely not going to Naruto-kun." Itachi mused as he proceeded to start phase two of his plans for his fellow Shinobi, strengths and weaknesses were also key, and he would use these to his advantage.

* * *

A Silver Lobo groaned as it died with a cleaver stuck into its skull, while Naruto tore it out ruthlessly with no sympathy for the monster attacking them, it had brought it onto itself. Many creatures known as the Crawlers had been destroyed, with Hope taking advantage of his Fira spell once more to open up their weakness easily, though that was only a few moment ago. Suddenly however as they went through what had appeared to be a clear opening, the fencing closed up, trapping them inside.

"Caged like the animals." Lightning huffed in annoyance.

"Erm ... Lightning, it looks like a stronger Behemoth is coming." Naruto told the woman slowly, making her turn quickly to find a dark purple Behemoth jumping into the zone growling angrily at them, with a hungry look in its eyes.

"Libra," Naruto uttered softly, as he tried to scan the monster before them, which finished just before the Behemoth attacked them.

"Well? What's it called and what are its weaknesses?" Lightning demanded as she barely avoided a swipe of its giant claw.

"It's the Feral Behemoth!" Naruto told Lightning quickly before he jumped ahead and slammed his foot into the side of the monster's head. "And its weakness is the water spells!"

"Good enough for me!" Lightning shouted back as she quickly forming the making of a Water spell. "Water!"

"Water," Both Naruto and Hope suddenly formed the water spell which hit the Feral Behemoth, causing it to cry out in pain, and proceeded to try and shake its head wildly in an attempt to get rid of the water which seemed to have blinded the beast. Lightning quickly make her way to the side of the monster and proceeded to launch it up in the air, before she jumped in the air to follow it, it was merely a moment later that Naruto had followed the soldier up in the air with her, having formed two Rasengans, having used his blade as a boost for him to jump up to at really high speeds.

"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled as he slammed his attacks into the stomach of the monster, which roared in agony, which was also caused with Lightning sliced into its side at the same time as Naruto hit the beast with his own attack.

"Water," Hope had also launched his own spell to further put the beast down, and the spell ended up slamming into the bottom of its jaw, causing it to roar in pain once more, before its life finally left the monster, due to the punishment that it had taken, which was ended when the Feral Behemoth slammed into the ground as it came crashing down. The fences died down quickly afterward.

"We've tripped the security alarm. The observation Battalion will be coming, if they weren't already." Lightning told her companions.

"Let them come." Hope declared, sounding more ready than before to take on the army. Naruto looked bemused.

"Hope tried to sound cool." Naruto uttered as he followed the L'Cie. "I'm not sure what to say about that." They ended up having to climb up what appeared to be a branch, mixed with metal and crystal. "The trees don't feel as nice anymore."

"More Crawlers ahead," Lightning told Hope who was already prepared to attack the 10 Crawlers in front of them.

"Fira," Hope announced almost coldly as the fire spell was unleashed, causing all of the Crawlers to make what seemed like a mixture of a hissing and a screaming sound of pain. They were soon dead, and the group was quickly moving on.

"That went well." Lightning mused as they continued on, though Hope was starting to look more and more tired. "Take five." Lightning ordered, just before Hope allowed himself to drop to his knees.

"You shouldn't push yourself too hard." Naruto told the boy, though his thoughts were completely different. '_Though I'm one to talk, since that was all I seemed to do.'_ After a while, something about Hope's expression didn't feel right, the way that he was looking at the knife that Lightning had given him. Lightning and Naruto both saw through it straight away, but waited for a moment, to see if Hope would tell them first.

"What's eating you?" It was Lightning who broke the silence first. Though Naruto had been opening his mouth to say something just as Lightning broke the silence.

"Hope, what's wrong." Naruto asked this time, something about Hope's expression, worried him, scared him almost, the similarities between Hope and ... him ... seemed too frightening to be a possibility.

"Okay, I can tell you're hung up on something. Is it the L'Cie thing?" Lightning asked, sounding slightly more forceful this time. Though Hope didn't answer her, he continued to play with the knife.

"Wait a minute ... this is about Snow, isn't it?" Naruto finally asked, making Hope look up at the blond suddenly, who much to Hope's surprise was looking slightly upset about something. "What happened, between you and Snow?" Naruto demanded sternly, feeling weird as he did so.

"You wouldn't understand." Hope told the blond, who rolled his eyes.

"Of course I wouldn't understand, because unless we get the full details, Lightning and I can't help you." Naruto told the boy, kneeling down as he did so, while Lightning appeared to have done the same.

"Naruto, you and I are all partners, Hope. If something is upsetting you, then we want to help you, for your sake, as well as ours." Lightning told the teenager softly, who looked up at both Lightning and Naruto.

"My mother was killed, because of him." Hope finally told them both, something that made Naruto's eyes widen slightly. "It's his fault." Hope started to hit the hilt of the knife onto the path that had been taking, harder, and harder, until he suddenly allowed the blade the spring free. "And he needs to pay for it. I'm not ready yet, but I will be, soon. That's why I followed you." Hope announced as he got to his feet, while Naruto got to his feet as well, the mere idea that Hope was seeking revenge on Snow ... Naruto gripped his knuckles tightly until his palms started to bleed.

"He's got to pay." Hope announced. That was the last straw for Naruto.

"Revenge ... you stupid boy." Naruto sneered at Hope, who turned to face Naruto with a look of anger. "Do you really think that anything good can happy from following down that path?" Naruto shouted at Hope.

"It's not like you can understand! You've never lost anyone!" Hope shouted back, tears leaking freely from his eyes. But that sentence alone seemed to bring back memories of three years ago, and suddenly, the result of what Sasuke had gain from revenge, from his dreams last night.

_Sasuke impaling Sakura in the chest, laughing madly as he did so, he stabbed and stabbed and stabbed until his throat had become rare from laughing so hard. Naruto dropped to his knees in horror at the sight. _

_Suddenly the roles started to change ... Sasuke had been replaced ... replaced by Hope, and Sakura had been replaced by Vanille first, then Sazh, then Konan and finally ... Lightning. Naruto couldn't help it, it was like his dream had begun to replay itself over and over again until the tapes wore out._

"**You see Naruto ... this is merely a passive or what could happen in the future ... don't deny this path ... allowed him to accept it, for this will the most wonderful path he could take.**" Kyuubi hissed whispers, sounding like it wanted to give nightmares for years to come.

"Hope ... don't you dare ... go down the path of revenge ... or else." Naruto growled angrily, his eyes glowing darkly as he stared at the boy. "I don't care about your desire to make Snow pay, but you must not end up ... like my former best friend did ... not like what happened to him." Naruto's hand reached up to his head, wondering why he saying these things ... no ... this needed to be said.

"What have you seen ... Naruto," Lightning demanded, causing the blond to turn to her weakly, a broken look was now on Naruto's face.

"My best friend, the man I thought as a brother, turn into a psychopath because of revenge and the path he choose to take." Naruto uttered, before he dropped to his knees once more, wondering why he wanted to just ... let go. ... Maybe all he needed to do ... was just ... die ... no ... wait ... there was still time ... Snow was nowhere near them, and while Hope wanted to kill the taller blond, Naruto would be there to stop him ... no matter what the cost. "And Hope ... isn't going to fall into that path of madness. Not while I'm around."

"**We'll see about that, we'll see.**" Kyuubi laughed evilly within Naruto's mind, darkness needed to rule, evil needed to reign, and the Fal'Cie ... they needed to be replaced and Kyuubi, well, he knew the perfect replacement.

* * *

**Chapter 10 is completed.**

**... I swear that something is wrong with me at the moment ... no seriously.**

**Anyway, I would have done this update sooner, had it not been for the fact that I brought that Alice: Madness Returns game a couple of days ago ... and completed it ... without getting the collectables. However, I have to say that it's a brilliant game, I would recommand it to anyone, I really would. It's even better than I thought it would be, which is saying something.**

**Seriously though, I am trying to fuck with Naruto and I'm making him seem weak on purpose, this was one of the reason I wrote that nightmare that Naruto had last chapter, for that alone.**

**I want Naruto to have his weak moments, but at the same time I want Naruto to be tormented. Seriously, with the Kyuubi inside of him and everything else in Cocoon with people being killed to be 'Purged' and Hope declaring he wanted revenge and seeing how Sasuke could have/has ended up in his dream makes the blond instantly think the worse, there's a lot of things wrong with Cocoon and Naruto knows it and hates the place already as it is.**

**Not that I care too much, it makes great story.**

**Anyway, I'm a bit disappointed with a few things, but I feel that it's good enough for the time being.**

**Also, I'm getting the Final Fantasy XIII-2 ... I'll need to do some research into the game before I decide whether or not I'll write a Gran Pulse Sage 2 or not, so yea, whatever.**

**Personally, I think that I've been thinking too hard and some of the things coming out may be coming from what I feel Naruto would say or do.**

**Not much to say there.**

**I will also go to Sazh, Konan and Vanille parts like it would happen in the game, since Konan will have a MAJOR impact, trust me, I've got something big planned over there, but it make take more than 10 chapters before something happens in that party, so yeah, look out for it.**

* * *

**Omake - Lightning asks Naruto about Ramen**

Lightning never really asked Naruto about this subject before hand, but she decided that today was the day she needed to ask.

"Naruto, why do you like Ramen so much?" Lightning asked curiously, causing the blond to give her a surprised look as he looked up from his book.

"Well, many reasons ... one because it was the cheapest thing I could eat, two I couldn't afford much else at the time." Naruto explained sheepishly.

"There's another reason for that, isn't there." Lightning quesiton her fiancee with a raised eyebrow.

"..." Naruto didn't give his answer at first. "Another reason was because ramen was the first gift I ever recieved from anyone, and that was the owners of the Ichiraku's stand, where I ate my ramen." Naruto admitted.

* * *

**I personally thought that there was a deeper reason for Naruto's love for ramen, and there's one of my reasons.**

**I'm not in the mood to do anything else.**

**Until next time goodbye and goodnight.**


	11. The Gapra Whitewood - Part 2

**Fear what you do not understand**

**Hate everything that confuses you**

**Kill whatever seems to be adnormal to you**

**Change is a curse to people like you bigots**

* * *

The Gran Pulse Sage

The Gapra Whitewood – Part 2 and his eyes

* * *

Things had not ended up going as bad as Itachi thought that they might have been, strangely enough Itachi noted that he could sense anyone with a mark of the L'Cie with his Sharingan activated, something that confused the greatest of Uchiha, aside from Madara sadly enough. How Itachi found this out was purely by accidently, he had only activated his Sharingan to attempt to see how good his eyesight was before and after he had activated his family technique, only to realize that he could only see the chakra or magical energy of the only L'Cie in the entire base.

"Why do you wish to visit Cid Raines?" Jihl asked the Uchiha after his strange request, though she did seem as though she was going to allow the Uchiha to go anyway, even if he didn't give her a reason.

"I merely wish to try something out, an experiment if you will." Itachi allowed the answer to slip through his lips. He seemed keen to complete his experiment as he called it.

"Very well, you shall go, though I don't want you to cause any trouble, you understand?" Jihl told the only Uchiha in Cocoon, sounding almost concerned for him.

"You know I'm too good to cause any trouble for you." Itachi allowed what seemed like an amused smirk to grace his features, even if Jihl had a sadistic side, he did owe her some gratitude for getting him back his eyesight and allowing him to be raised back to health. Shame he had to use her really.

"I know you're too talented for that." Jihl seemed amused as well. It was almost like a game that the two highly powerful (Itachi much more than Jihl) humans played, though it wasn't clear whether or not either of them cared too much about it.

"I shall be off then, don't expect me to be back anytime soon." Itachi told Jihl calmly as he left the room in a graceful manner. It was obvious that he was confident about how things worked in Cocoon now. The way that he carried himself merely suggested that.

Itachi had a number of plans created already, and no-one knew that he was planning in using whatever he needed to in order to succeed, even the very people who had brought him back to good health.

* * *

It hadn't taken long for Lightning to decide that she was to take point. However, she had to literally threaten both Naruto and Hope, who were literally seconds away from literally attacking each other, just to get them to stop having yet another argument by saying that she would leave them behind if they didn't stop. Naruto though had to be silenced by the threat of having his family jewels stamped on, by Lightning, while riding on Odin.

That got Naruto to shut up pretty quickly, even if he was Kyuubi's host, he really didn't want to know if he could recover from that.

Still, Naruto seemed unable to actually look at Hope without a distrustful look finding its way onto his face. The blonde's happy, goofy look seemed to have all but vanished, replaced by a look of sternest, unforgiving harshness. It was as if all of his happiness had been replaced by anger instead, the true reason of Hope travelling with them had shaken him to the core, it was almost as if Naruto had been replaced by an emotionless, soulless robotic of himself. If anything, it was almost as if Naruto and Sasuke's personalities had combined together to form the creature that had taken Naruto's appearance instead.

"Die." Naruto uttered darkly as he tore through two Silver Lobos with Gilgamesh before they even realized that he was attacking them, they didn't even get enough time to let out a high pitched yelp in pain before they died. Naruto seemed to be radiating darkness whenever he attacked any of the creatures, more and more anger seemed to be welded into his attacks the longer the fight went on, but they never lasted longer than 30 seconds. Hope looked uncomfortable about the ruthlessness that Naruto seemed to be displaying, as did Lightning at the moment.

"He's ... he's acting like this ... because of me, isn't he?" Hope asked Lightning, his voice holding a tint of fear.

"..." Lightning didn't have an answer for the boy, she was trying to think of the reason as to why Naruto would be acting this way, yes he had been upset with the way that Hope had acted, but surely this wasn't the way that he was going to show Hope that he was in the wrong, was it?

"**Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, don't you see what the problem is?**" Kyuubi whispered sinisterly to the blond haired boy, who frowned deeply as he heard the demon stuck in his body talk to him once more.

'_You're talking to me, that's one problem that I can see right there.'_ Naruto told the demon, who merely chuckled darkly in response, ignoring Naruto's comment. Silence followed however, before Kyuubi spoke up again.

"**Naruto, what are you doing anyway?**" Kyuubi asked his container, who paused for a moment, before he turned to the monster fox dramatically.

'_I'm acting like an avenger so that both Lightning and Hope, especially Hope know why it's a bad fucking idea it is to go down that path in the first place.'_ Naruto answered the fox, which seemed to be stunned into silence. Finally, he spoke once more.

"**Naruto ... this is the most stupid of ideas that I have ever heard, and that's saying a lot about you.**" Kyuubi growled out, wondering just why he had to suffer in such a way.

'_Wait, what the hell do you mean Kyuubi? This is not my worst idea.'_ Naruto shot back at the demonic creature.

"**Are you trying to act like that Sasuke Uchiha that you keep on whining about in your dreams? Seriously, I will not have my host act like a stuck-up spoilt brat who just had everything taken away from him just to show someone that they should not be going down a certain path!**" Kyuubi snapped angrily, causing Naruto to twitch as he realized just what he had been doing. To think that it would be the Kyuubi bitching about it that would cause him to realize what the hell he was doing.

"WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING?" Naruto roared, causing Hope to jump in surprise, while Lightning had gotten in a fighting stance due to the outburst from Naruto, only to twitch when she realized that it was a false alarm. Though she hoped that this was the end of the blond brooding, it was scary seeing him do such a thing from the normally cheerful blond. It was as if Snow had suddenly declared that the world could just go and fuck itself instead of declaring that he was going to save it.

"Are you done brooding now?" Lightning asked the blond.

"Yeah, I'm done." Naruto confirmed, allowing a sheepish grin to grace his features, causing Hope to let out a sigh of relief. They jumped up the giant branch of one of the many trees to get to the next levelled platform. Lightning stopped when she looked at the giant leaf that was blocking their way, before she drew her gunblade and proceeded to slice into the leaf, causing it to shatter into many pieces. Hope looked at the gunblade with interest.

"Could I use one of those?" Hope asked suddenly, causing the older members of the group of three to look at the boy.

"Bit too heavy for you," Lightning admitted, while Naruto pulled out Gilgamesh, before he allowed the Eidolon to change into many weapons one after the other, in order to get a feel of how many weapons he could turn into.

"Okay." Hope sighed, as he pulled out the knife that Lightning had given him, the knife that Lightning had been given by Serah as a birthday present. As Lightning stared at Hope, she was hit by a flashback, a flashback that she wished she would never have experience ever again. Serah telling her that she had been made a L'Cie and despite it all, Snow had gone ahead and proposed to her. Lightning in an act of stubbornness had declared that she didn't believe the pair and had even gone as far as to go ahead and threaten her. Just the memory of Serah rushing out of her house with tears in her eyes made Lightning want to take it all back.

"Serah, I should have listened to you." Lightning uttered out loud.

"Lightning? What was that about Serah?" Naruto asked, sounding confused.

"Nothing, just forget about it." Lightning dismissed his question quickly, causing Naruto to look even more confused than before. This moment ended when they encountered 2 Silver Lobos and three Crawlers. However Naruto sent the two Silver Lobos flying with Shinra Tensei, while Lightning and Hope used their spells to take out the crawlers.

"What the fuck is that?" Naruto asked as they looked at what the Libra told them was a Barbed Specter and that its weakness was ... fire.

"Fire," moments later the creature was dead, just as it was about to attack them.

Hey, they needed to survive after all, especially if they were going to actually get to Hope's home town.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed as he ducked under a crawler as it somehow managed to jump over him, while Lightning sliced at a Barbed Specter, only for the creature to dodge the attack. However, they fell into the hands of Hope.

"Fira," the boy unleashed the fire spell that engulfed the three monsters that were attacking them.

It was times like this that reminded Naruto just how much Hope had grown, as well as the fact that he was trying to get stronger by following them, even if it was for the wrong reasons. Naruto could respect the determination to get stronger, he had been there himself, hell he was still trying to get stronger, even after everything that had happened.

* * *

The Lindblum

Itachi had waited for permission to be welcomed above of the incredible ship that was the Lindblum, despite even his own expectations, he had proven to be a natural flyer, and with all of the co-ordinations that had been provided to him, he had managed to get to the ship pretty quickly. Though while it normally would have taken longer to get to this airship from where he had been with Jihl, there had been a special device that had allowed Itachi to do something like a teleport pretty close to the Lindblum, when Cid Raines had allowed for it.

"You may come above." The voice told the Uchiha.

"Thank you." Itachi replied, before he completed his trip and quickly finished the standard procedures. He was quickly greeted by some soldiers.

"Cid Raines will greet you shortly." One of the men told the Uchiha.

"Very well," Itachi's reply was nice and swift. It wasn't too long before Itachi was greeted of the sight of Cid Raines himself. The man was carrying himself with confidence, but yet Itachi could see a hint of nervousness, even if it was barely there.

"You must be Itachi Uchiha." Cid held out his hand for Itachi to shake, which he did. "Come, walk with me."

"As you wish," Itachi agreed, seeing no reason to do so. In fact, it was better, for it would give them more privacy, away from anyone who could be looking in on them. Once they reached a room, Cid opened the door and led Itachi inside.

"My office," Cid explained to Itachi, who nodded in confirmation.

"I see."

"I have heard many things from Jihl, all of them interesting and impressive. Even the mere idea of being able to beat an entire squad of PCISOM with barely anything left of your eyesight left, this is the most impressive I heard." Cid started to speak to Itachi, who merely listened to the leader of the Cavalry.

"These things are not hard to learn from where I lived, it was demanded of me to know such things, because of my family name." Itachi told the man.

"The Uchiha," Cid looked interested in the idea.

"The very same, especially due to the fact that we were treated as royalty because of our abilities, including which reside within my very eyes," Itachi explained to the man.

"Your eyes," Cid mused curiously, before blinking when Itachi's eyes changed into the colour of blood red. "I see, and these eyes of yours give you many special abilities?"

"Many. One of which includes being able to see what the person that you are fighting is going to do the moment before they do it." Itachi explained, causing Cid's eyes to widen in wonder. "This also includes seeing a fighting technique that their opponent can do and later on being able to couple their style and perhaps further improve to suit their own needs, if they work hard enough at it." This was why Itachi was miles above the rest of his clan. Even if he did copy the move of an opponent shinobi, he would stop at nothing to perfect the ability and then even go on to improve it in a way that it suited his fighting style.

"That is quite extraordinary, and you say that your entire clan are able to do this?" Cid asked in wonder.

"Used to be able to do it, I am the last of my clan left." Itachi admitted. He was not prepared to say anything more regarding the matter.

"I see. Then I am sorry for your loss." Cid offered, to which Itachi scowled.

"Don't be." Itachi told the man, not about to mention anything about the coup d'état that his family had been planning. '_Though I do have to wonder Cid, why you have the same energy as that young boy, Dajh, as well as two other foreign energies on board of your airship.'_ Itachi thought as he continued his conversation with the man.

* * *

Naruto gulped nervously as he, Lightning and Hope crept around from the fight of some of the creatures of the Environmental Regulation part of the Gapra Whitewood. The fight in question happened to be between a Feral Behemoth and three Silver Lobos. Why they were fighting in the first place was a question in itself, but not one that they were prepared to investigate. Despite everything, Naruto did NOT have a death wish. Plus Lightning and Hope did want to live through this in the end. It was why they were bothering to get stronger in the first place.

"Go!" Naruto, Lightning and Hope all ran up the giant branch, something that the creatures down below were not capable of, thankfully for them. It wasn't too long before they managed to get to a lift.

"I thought that we were never going to get out of there." Naruto sighed, before blinking. "Well, not me, but you both seemed to be fine enough from the beginning."

"You make it sound as if you were preparing to sacrifice yourself so that we could live." Lightning announced bluntly.

"I was." Naruto admitted loosely, as if he was not worth anything to the world, like he was merely a small toy that could be thrown out. Hope sighed as he heard this, wondering just how somebody could just throw their life away as quickly as that. Surely the blond had ambitions, right?

"Please don't actually kill yourself, I'm starting to get used to your fighting style, even if there barely is one." Lightning told the blond, causing him to give her a dirty look. "You are unpredictable in battle and that gives us a huge advantage when we fight our enemies."

"Damn, I was hoping to hear you say that you cared about my wellbeing." Naruto sighed, as the lift reached its destination and they got off of it.

"So what are we going to do about our company?" Hope asked the older members of the group. They had quickly spotted the 4 Silver Lobo that just happened to be sitting there, growling to themselves, as if expecting something to come along, like food, walking food.

"Bombard them with the Fira spell?" Naruto looked at Lightning, who nodded in agreement. They both then looked at Hope. "Would you do the honours?" Naruto gave the boy a smile, as did Lightning, though it was much smaller than Naruto's. Hope looked determined nonetheless.

"Right," Hope nodded, before he extended his arms towards the four monstrous looking creatures, which had finally spotted them. "Fira," Hope snapped, causing a fire tornado to erupt from between the four Silver Lobos that were charging in their direction. Their high pitched yelps could be heard, while Naruto and Lightning rushed in and sliced through the creatures, killing them without even a hint of trouble.

"That's what I think it is, isn't it?" Naruto asked Lightning, who nodded mutely. The sight of the dead bodies of the members of the Woodlands Observation Battalion confirmed to Naruto and Lightning that there was something out there, something bigger and more deadlier than they had first believed, which was concerning since they had faced off against the Feral Behemoths already, and they packed a punch.

"What happened here?" Hope asked the duo, looking slightly sick at the sight of the dead bodies, something that even Naruto was used to by now, thanks to his time as a ninja.

"Bad luck." Lightning answered, before taking a few steps forward. "They came looking for us and found something worse."

"We can't just leave them like this!" Hope bent down, about to touch one of the now deceased soldier.

"Don't touch anything!" Lightning snapped at the boy, shoving him to the ground as she pulled him away from the dead body. Naruto didn't say anything. "Control your emotions. If you want to survive, you forget about sympathy."

"Lightning's right about this Hope, it will do more harm than good to worry about this for they are already dead. Trust me. I had to learn that the hard way." Naruto told the boy, who looked at the blond with a surprised expression. "I'm not going further at this point."

"How can I explain?" Lightning uttered, pacing around for a moment, before she turned back to Hope, where she knelt down in front of the boy. "Think of it like a strategy. Focus on your ultimate goal and shut out everything else. Still you mind. Move on instinct."

"Lightning ... not the best explanation here." Naruto looked nervous, something that the soldier picked up on when she turned to face him in annoyance. Yet she continued after she stood up.

"Let doubt take over and despair will cripple you." Lightning finished her explanation, causing Naruto to grimace at what she was saying. It could be taken the wrong way quite easily, like nothing but your goal mattered anymore, and as long as you completed your goal, everything would be fine.

"Strategy, good, I'll take anything to help me get through this." Hope admitted before he took a few steps forward. "I'll call it 'Operation Nora'." Hope announced.

"NORA?" Lightning was able to hide her shock, but barely.

"My mother's name," Hope confessed his reason for the name. Naruto looked frustrated. He knew that the boy had taken the piece of advice the wrong way.

"Your revenge," Lightning picked up on this as well and instantly realized that she had made a mistake.

"Yes." Hope confirmed their fears. "Don't tell me. I know getting revenge on him won't... bring her back. I know that!" Hope turned towards them, more at Naruto than Lightning. However, the boy looked down and seemed to hesitate on what he was going to say. "But 'sorry' won't cut it." Hope finished what he had to say, before he started to walk away.

"You're confused, you've lost your mother and Snow failed to save her." Naruto wasn't asking a question, he was stating a fact.

"Snow didn't kill your mother. The Sanctum did." Lightning interjected, causing Hope to turn around sharply.

"Whose side are you on?" Hope demanded.

"The side of truth," Lightning told him, looking convinced. She was trying to make up for her mistake of what her choice of words had done, and Naruto knew that. Hope took out the knife that Lightning had given him, staring at it.

"Fine, I'll fight the Sanctum with you. I'll learn to survive." Hope told them both, and started to walk away.

"Hope, don't just take this on your shoulders for you to bear alone." Naruto called out to the boy, who paused in mid-step, before turning to the blond, who looked almost calm now, remorseful. "I know what it's like to want to have revenge ... and once I've tasted the juices of vengeance." Naruto confessed, causing both Hope and Lightning to look at the blond in shock, clearly not expecting it. "I just felt worse, feeling so guilty for what I had gone and done." Naruto cringed just remembering the realization that he had killed someone.

_The anger that allowed the Kyuubi to take control of his body had made him kill the man that had confessed to killing his daughter just for being different. This was during the time when he was training with Jiraiya, it was just 4 months in and he had made a friend in a village that they were staying in. They had stayed there for 3 weeks, but after staying there for a week and just a few days of being friends with a girl his age, Naruto had discovered her corpse at their meeting spot in the woods. After tearfully telling Jiraiya what had happened, the two had started an investigation to find who had killed the girl._

_They had spend two weeks finding the person who had killed the girl, only to find out it was her own father, who proceeded to tell them both that she was just not normal enough for him to keep looking after her and that he got complaints about his daughter's behaviour from everyone in the village, so in the end killed her. The man rambled on about how she never had any friends, only for Naruto to shout that he was her friend. The man proceeded to announce that Naruto had just wasted his time with the girl, saying that it was going to happen in the end and that she had needed to die._

_Naruto's anger tapped into the Kyuubi's power and take over his mind. When he had been able to snap out of his anger spell, Jiraiya had explained that in his Kyuubi-raged state that Naruto had proceeded to destroy the man and had potentially might had taken the village with him, had it not been for the fact that Jiraiya had slapped his newly created seal on the boy, forcing the Kyuubi's chakra to stop flowing through his system. Naruto had felt sick at the fact that he had killed, only for Jiraiya to comfort the boy through the ordeal._

_They had left the village the next day and Jiraiya had decided to start Naruto to control the Kyuubi's chakra and see how good his limits were, leading to the scar that the Sannin had gained._

Naruto blinked, he really needed to stop spacing out so much.

"Just take it from me, you don't want to get your revenge on Snow, the results are just ... they just aren't worth it." Naruto told the boy, before walking off and leading the way, while the surprised duo of Lightning and Hope watched him walk away.

* * *

Itachi frowned as he looked at the room where the L'Cie that they had apparently captured was staying, honestly he wasn't feeling too impressed.

'_Something doesn't feel right about the situation.'_ Itachi looked at the door curiously. '_If they have a Pulse L'Cie onboard, they why hasn't Jihl been given the heads up, furthermore, the other L'Cie seems to have been given free rein of where he or she is allowed to go. It's almost as if they are withholding information on purpose and/or perhaps thinking of betraying the Sanctum.'_ Itachi thought, as he ran through the numerous situations through his head.

From one side it looked pretty dire and could result in something disastrous, but at the same time the Fal'Cie could be planning something and something big. Wouldn't they have been able to tell that a Pulse Fal'Cie was on Cocoon? If they had been able to do so, then why didn't they? Surely if they knew about something like that or if they had brought the vestige to Cocoon that they would have been able to see the Fal'Cie inside?

Unless the Fal'Cie that made sure that the vestige was brought to Cocoon was in fact planning on doing something with all of the chaos and perhaps the Pulse L'Cie running about.

"Something's not right here." Itachi muttered as he made his way to the docking area, noting at the corner of his eyes, that the other Pulse L'Cie was keeping a distance from him, watching him from afar.

* * *

"Alright, these guys were way more work than they should have been." Naruto sighed, as he looked Lightning and Hope, who both nodded wordlessly. They had both gotten over the fact that Naruto had been on a quest for revenge before and had succeeded in his goal. While they were both also looking towards quests of revenge themselves, just seeing what it had made Naruto feel just made them start to think twice about revenge, only to just go along with it anyway.

They didn't have anything else in their eyes.

"Guys, can you work this lift? I'm still pretty shit at handling your technology." Naruto confessed, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

Yet at the same time, Lightning had to simply admire the fact that Naruto could still be so cheerful, even with all of the anger and rage inside. It was like he was acting strong for them both, not just for Hope, but for her as well. Trying to help guide the way, even if he didn't know what direction he was heading, he still tried to lead the way.

"Here, you press these buttons and the lift starts to move." Lightning told the blond, who thanked her happily. When they got to the top of the lift, everything seemed to be clear, including their way to the exit.

"..." Naruto frowned when he felt something coming, the Rinnegan activated quickly, allowing him to see that a monstrous creature was about to jump out in front of them. "Prepare yourselves!" Naruto told his companions, who jumped back, just in time to see a creature jump out from the trees above, doing a flip in midair, before landing in front of them. The creature looked like a giant turtle with what appeared to be a closed flower on its back and was making noises that sounded like stuff from a rainforest.

Hope reached towards his boomerang.

"This is it. Operation Nora," Hope declared as he glared at the creature in front of them. Naruto and Lightning stood just ahead of him, Naruto holding out Gilgamesh, who was now in the form of a buster sword, while Lightning had her gunblade out as usual. She casted the Libra spell.

"This creature is called the Aster Protoflorian, no doubt it is responsible for killing the men that we found earlier." Lightning told them.

"Before the ones we defeated?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Before the ones we defeated." Lightning confirmed. While they were talking, Hope had been casting Protect and Shell on the group. "It can alter its own elemental weakness and can deal devastating physical attacks."

"Sounds fun," Naruto smirked, eagerly looking forward to the challenge of the fight, as he activated the Rinnegan. '_Wonder if Lightning knows that she's technically reading that information from a giant screen? Nah, better not mention it.'_

The Aster Protoflorian marched up towards them, where it attempted to stand on its back legs, only for the giant flower to open up and spin around wildly, attempting to smash into them at high speeds. Naruto jumped across and pulled Hope out of danger, while avoiding being hit as well, while Lightning jumped away from the attack. However, the creature before them suddenly allowed its closed flower on its back to do a little spin, which caused the creature to shine brightly for a moment. Naruto used the Libra spell this time and raised his eyebrow in surprise.

"It's changed its defence, it's now able to absorb Ice attacks, but is weak against Fire attacks." Naruto announced, causing Hope to smirk as he prepare the spell that would do what he wanted to do.

"Fira/Fire," Everyone cried as Hope shot his Fira spell, while Lightning and Naruto shot their Fire spells. The creature let out a scream of pain as the fire based spells hit it with three times the velocity, before Lightning charged forward and brought her gunblade up to attack the creature, only for it to dodge at the last moment. Lightning cursed, before she jumped away from the creature as it attempted to crush her with its weight.

"I thought that I was the one to take risks." Naruto mused with an amused tone of voice.

"Just concentrate on beating this thing." Lightning snapped back, ignoring the moment later where Naruto saluted to her.

"As you wish," Naruto smirked, before he raised his left hand forward at the creature before them. "Shinra Tensei!" The creature found itself flying back by a burst of gravity into one of the walls. Naruto simply calmly towards the creature and raised his right hand out so that it was facing the creature five seconds later. "Bansho Ten'in!" The Aster Protoflorian screeched as it found itself flying stomach first towards Naruto, who proceeded to grab Gilgamesh with his left hand and aimed to slash the stomach of the creature. However, much to Naruto's surprise, the creature somehow managed to unleash a ball of ice in his direction, that was sucked in faster due to how much lighter it was than the creature.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed, before he launched Gilgamesh into the air before aiming his hands as if he was about to hug the attack, only for the ball of ice to be absorbed into his body. However, when he looked up, his eyes widen in shock at the fact that the Aster Protoflorian had gotten so close to him, and was about to hit him with its flower petals that had opened up on its back.

"Fire," however, there was Lightning to the rescue when she bombarded the creature with fire spell after fire spell, not stopping until it was literally backpedalling away from Naruto, where it ended up being yet another victim of Hope's Fira spell. Lightning scowled as she stood next to Naruto, looking at the creature before them.

"I've finally saved you for once." Lightning sounded so good right now, Naruto decided, yet he was about to pop her balloon.

"You've still got to do it two more times to make it even." Naruto pointed out.

"Then I will save you two more times then." Lightning replied, while they got given power ups in the form of yet another pair Protect and Shell spells from Hope. Naruto then jumped up and caught the now falling Gilgamesh in midair and watched as the Aster Protoflorian changed its strength into water and its weakness into lightning based attacks. Naruto smirked at what he saw.

"Lightning, your favourite element is now the weakness!" Naruto declared, the meaning behind the words was caught quite easily by the pink haired woman, who launched several Thunder spells. Naruto was meanwhile still floating in the air, raising even higher in the air, while sparks of lightning seemed to be going through Gilgamesh, who was still in the form of the buster sword. Naruto unleashed a slash of lightning straight at the Aster Protoflorian ... just as it was changing its weakness to water based attacks, meaning that its strength was now lightning based attacks. Naruto felt his jaw drop at the sheer timing of the change. That was sheer chance alone. However, his shock was not yet complete, for suddenly he was hit by a giant ball of lightning, sending him smashing into the ceiling of the lift.

"Naruto!" Lightning shouted, before both she and Hope unleashed Water spells at the creature, which cried out in pain as each spell hit it. Naruto suddenly dropped to the floor from the ceiling, where he proceeded to twitch before flipping to his feet, groggily shaking his head as sparks flickered now and again. It was at this moment that he was glad that Hope had cast the protective spells on him beforehand.

"Are you alright Naruto?" Hope called from his position, causing the blond to spar him a glance.

"Would have been worse had it not been for your spells, so I can say that I'm decent considering I was smashed into the ceiling." Naruto admitted, while stretching, causing cracks to be heard. "Right, back to battle I go!" Naruto announced, before he rushed in just at the Aster Protoflorian changed colours, to state that it had now become strong against Fire attacks, but weak against Ice attacks.

"Blizzard," Hope unleashed some ice based spells, which attacked the creature, causing it to scream in pain, while Naruto proceeded to do the same as he ran into battle.

"Lightning, let's finish it off now!" Naruto declared, causing the woman to nod as they both slammed their respective weapons underneath the Aster Protoflorian, causing it to actually find itself being launched in the air. Lightning followed it up in the air, while Hope continued to fire Blizzard after Blizzard at the creature, causing more cries of pain to be heard. Meanwhile underneath the creature, Naruto had started to form the Rasenshuriken, waiting for the perfect moment to use his attack.

"Now Naruto, finish it once and for all!" Lightning told the blond as she jumped backwards in midair, landing next to Hope just as he finish one last Blizzard spell.

"Right, take this you stupid looking bastard!" Naruto roared as he threw the now completed Rasenshuriken at the monstrous creature, the turtle like creature that had a giant flower on its back roared loudly as it was hit by the destructive attack. In the end, the creature tried to resist the powerful attack. However the creature didn't have the ability to block off the powerful Wind based attack, and was promptly destroyed in an explosion that rocked the entire section from the shockwave.

Naruto skidded backwards from the explosion that he had caused, with only a hint of discomfort. He almost immediately reached for his back, where he felt a stab of pain shoot through.

"Naruto, how badly does your back hurt?" Hope asked the blond with a concerned expression, while the blond hissed in pain once more, trying to ignore the horrid sensation, only to blink when none other than Lightning had started using a Cure spell to try and ease the pain running through his back.

"Lightning," Naruto sounded surprised by what she was doing, but she simply ignored his surprised reaction. "Thanks." Naruto smiled gratefully at the woman, who looked up to see the blond looking behind himself with a grateful look on his face.

"You're welcome." Lightning replied, trying to ignore the fact that she was blushing gently, not that the blond noticed or anything. Hope wasn't paying attention anymore at this point, he was confident that Naruto was in good hands with Lightning.

"Operation Nora, Stage One complete," Hope stated confidently to himself, smiling as he did so. While he didn't do the most during their battle against the Aster Protoflorian, he knew that he was getting stronger and now that he could do that, there wasn't going to be anything to stop him from eventually getting his revenge ... or perhaps just talking to Snow about what happened to his mother. Something in Naruto's words earlier just continued to haunt him.

"_I've tasted the juices of vengeance." Naruto confessed, causing both Hope and Lightning to look at the blond in shock, clearly not expecting it. "I just felt worse, feeling so guilty for what I had gone and done."_

Something about those words just haunted the young boy, but for what reason, he just didn't know.

"Hey Hope!" Naruto called to the young boy, who turned to the blond. "You did really well in that battle, I was impressed." Naruto admitted, causing the boy to shine at the praise that he was getting from the blond that he had considered his idol ... still did actually now that he thought about it.

"I agree with Naruto, you did well, Hope." Lightning gave her opinion on the matter as well, causing Hope to turn away quickly, unable to keep the wide grin off of his face. It was times like this that he forgot that he was an L'Cie, forgot that he was someone on the run having to fight just to survive. To Hope, just getting praised from the two most important people in his life mattered at the moment, for that was enough for him to keep going right now, as well as to be strong enough so he could confront Snow about his mother, in the end.

"Wow Lightning, I feel really good after that healing spell, it was great!" Naruto announced happily, while Lightning looked away, once against blushing gently, but at the same time, not enough for it to be visible for anyone who was looking.

"Let's just get moving." Lightning demanded, leading the way forward. Naruto blinked, before he looked at Hope, who shrugged and decided to just go along for the ride.

It was clear that they were near the exit of the facility as soon as they passed through the door. Naruto smiled brightly as soon as he saw the bright blue sky, the sign of the day. To Naruto, just seeing all of the nature was everything for him right now. Yet to be able to share this wonderful moment with both Lightning and Hope, it made the moment all the more special for the blond.

When they stopped hearing the sounds of their feet hitting the metal flooring, but the sound of their feet hitting the soil of the earth, Naruto smiled even more. Then there was the view before them that made this feeling even greater.

"That it," Hope announced as they got to the edge of the scenery. "Palumpolum."

"That's where you live, right?" Lightning asked the teenager.

"This view, it's beautiful. I'm just in awe of what is before us." Naruto confessed, smiling softly at the sight before them.

"We'll stop in when we get there." Lightning told Hope, who shook his head negatively.

"No. We're L'Cie now and no one's there but my dad." Hope rejected the idea altogether, causing Naruto to frown gently.

"Hope ... you need to let him know what happened." Lightning told the boy, while Naruto nodded in agreement.

"I agree with Lightning here, it's best for both of you." Naruto told the boy, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder in a comforting manner. "You've got both me and Lightning here with you, together to help you through this." Naruto told the boy, who nodded slowly at the idea. Hearing it put that way made him feel more confident about it all.

"I will, thanks Naruto, Light, for everything." Hope told them both.

"Don't mention it." Naruto told the boy.

"Naruto," Lightning called the blond, who blinked and turned to the woman 5 years his senior. "Call me Light." The woman looked away almost shyly, while the blond beamed happily at her direction.

'_Despite everything that I have against world ... I do have some things that I can still live for here, two of the main things being Hope and Lightning.'_

* * *

In the skies high above, onboard of the Lindblum, Snow and Fang were standing together, with Snow looking at the frozen tear drop that he had the last reminder of his fiancé, Serah.

"Okay! Time to hunt some L'Cie," Fang announced almost cheerfully, while Snow turned in her direction.

"So what, we find 'em and that's that?" Snow asked the other Pulse L'Cie.

"Don't get all hot and bothered." Fang told the tall blond, before walking away for a moment, leaving Snow to stare at the frozen tear drop that was all he had left of Serah.

"Serah ... am I doing the right thing?" Snow asked himself, before he found himself remembering the moment where Serah had first been captured by the Pulse Fal'Cie, Anima. He was broken out of his thoughts when Fang hit the man round the back of his head. "Ow!"

"I knew you were hard-headed, but..." Fang complained as she shook her hand in pain, amazed at the same time.

"That was – ow!" Snow started, only to complain once again.

"Snap to it! We're heading out." Fang relayed their orders.

"Yeah, yeah, hunting L'Cie right?" Snow asked the woman.

"This is our chance! Do not let the L'Cie escape! Move out!" The voice from a broadcast announced, causing Snow to get into his bike, while other bikes sped by. Fang seemed to be watching them go by, but Snow looked at the frozen tear drop once more.

"I will keep my promise, Lightning."

* * *

Itachi walked away from his vehicle with a frown on his face. If there was anything that he disliked, it was the dependency that every human on this planet had for vehicles. Seriously, they needed to walk sometimes, even if he, as much as he hated to say it, knew that these vehicles made travelling a lot quicker.

"I hate using these things." Itachi looked back at the vehicle that was now currently in flames, before shaking his head and leaving the now useless vehicle behind.

"Itachi, what happened? We heard a crash from inside the base!" Jihl could be heard as soon as Itachi made it inside the base that they were staying at.

"Let's just say, I hate using these vehicles because I could easily die if something goes wrong while I'm still inside." Itachi told the woman, who looked both relieved and annoyed at what Itachi was implying.

"You crashed again, didn't you?" Jihl announced bluntly, causing Itachi's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance.

"I hate your vehicles, so, so much."

* * *

**Chapter 11 is finally completed.**

**You people, do not know just how much I have simply hated writing this chapter, you really do not.**

**At times, I was really considering just going ahead and just going on to do something completely different in the end just because I got pissed off by what I was writing.**

**Perhaps I feel as though I have forced myself in a corner, or maybe I just hated writing the scene before I thought of that flashback, seriously, that one tiny scene pissed me off beyond belief because I couldn't think of something that would make an impact. So when I did ended up writing that part of the story, it felt so good.**

**Also, Itachi you have no idea how good it is to be able to write from one scene to another and he helped with that.**

**Now, about the Naruto/FFXIII crossovers, myself and Gravenimage have both helped revolutionize this category with both of our stories, or at least we help make an impact by bringing up the standards at least anyway.**

**When we both created our respected stories, we inspired people to write stuff of their own. We got numerous reviews from people who actually like our stories!**

**Being one of the two stories that have the most amount of reviews in the Naruto/FFXIII category means a lot to me.**

**There are some things in this chapter that some people might agree with, but others might disagree with. That's fine, cause I don't really care too much about it.**

**All I want to do is just write stories and chapters. Hell, I wasted just over 8 months to write a new chapter and if I need to, I would do it again because if I splash out the chapters quickly, then they are most likely not going to be as good as I would like.**

**That upsets me.**

**Also, I am actually working from hours of 9am until 5:30pm most of the week and I am mentally tired when I come home. So don't expect too many things too quickly.**

**It's my own fault for having so many stories out at once, and I know it.**

**If you don't like that, deal with it, cause I personally don't write my stories for you, I write them for me and I personally like writing stories, but at the same time, I don't like it either, if you get what I mean?**

**This is really time-consuming after all.**

**Hell, I'm still not as good at writing as I'd like to admit and I've been doing this shit for around 2 years now, it just goes and shows that I need to improve and learn some stuff too.**

**Before I go, I'd like to thank that person who has helped me with some ideas that will help improve this story. As well as slap out some stupid ideas as well. You know who you are.**

**Until next time, goodbye and goodnight.**


End file.
